Lick ’Em, Stick ’Em: A LOST FORMAT WORTH STEALING
Hans Lindenstaedt - Esquire Problem Zigaretten
Filed July 2025 · Samuel Gray
A tiny format with big energy.
I found this book called Lick ’Em, Stick ’Em by H. Thomas Steele in a friend's studio recently. Honestly, I only picked it up because the cover was interesting. It turns out it’s a collection of something called poster stamps—small, printed graphics that people stuck on letters, invoices, parcels, or shop windows in the early 1900s.
I'd never heard of poster stamps before, and initially I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. They weren’t postage stamps, and they didn’t seem like typical ads. But they were clearly promoting something. As I flipped through, what stood out to me was how modern they felt. Some of the stamps look exactly like rave flyers or indie zine covers. Others feel like prints you’d see on a limited-run streetwear tee. They're bold, graphic, compressed into a space just big enough to hold an idea.
I ended up doing a bit of digging afterward and discovered that poster stamps first took off in Germany. They were known there as "reklamemarken" (advertising stamps), around the same time the Germans were mastering the art of postcards. The whole idea was to grab attention quickly and clearly. They reminded me a lot of Plakatstil, the German poster movement that stripped designs down to simple shapes and bold colours. These stamps seemed to share that same idea—clarity above everything else.
Poster stamps were definitely promotional, but something about their scale made them feel like collectibles rather than disposable ads. Coca-Cola even issued full sets of them, treating them more like trading cards than throwaway marketing. I think that’s why they’ve stuck with me: they don’t feel like they were just trying to sell you something. Instead, they feel like they were designed to stick around, to become part of someone's collection.
And looking at them made me realise how similar they are to some of the ways brands communicate now. All those social posts, carousel slides, stickers, and small inserts brands put into product orders—the ones you end up keeping or screenshotting for reasons you can’t always explain. The stamps felt similar. They were tiny surfaces that said just enough to matter.
If you've noticed something similar recently, send it over. I'm curious if other brands or designers are intentionally revisiting this idea or if it's just something I've started noticing. Either way, it feels worth paying attention to.
If you'd like to keep following along or have something you'd like to share, feel free to reach out: samuel@forward-works.com
A tiny format with big energy.
I found this book called Lick ’Em, Stick ’Em by H. Thomas Steele in a friend's studio recently. Honestly, I only picked it up because the cover was interesting. It turns out it’s a collection of something called poster stamps—small, printed graphics that people stuck on letters, invoices, parcels, or shop windows in the early 1900s.
I'd never heard of poster stamps before, and initially I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. They weren’t postage stamps, and they didn’t seem like typical ads. But they were clearly promoting something. As I flipped through, what stood out to me was how modern they felt. Some of the stamps look exactly like rave flyers or indie zine covers. Others feel like prints you’d see on a limited-run streetwear tee. They're bold, graphic, compressed into a space just big enough to hold an idea.
I ended up doing a bit of digging afterward and discovered that poster stamps first took off in Germany. They were known there as "reklamemarken" (advertising stamps), around the same time the Germans were mastering the art of postcards. The whole idea was to grab attention quickly and clearly. They reminded me a lot of Plakatstil, the German poster movement that stripped designs down to simple shapes and bold colours. These stamps seemed to share that same idea—clarity above everything else.
Poster stamps were definitely promotional, but something about their scale made them feel like collectibles rather than disposable ads. Coca-Cola even issued full sets of them, treating them more like trading cards than throwaway marketing. I think that’s why they’ve stuck with me: they don’t feel like they were just trying to sell you something. Instead, they feel like they were designed to stick around, to become part of someone's collection.
And looking at them made me realise how similar they are to some of the ways brands communicate now. All those social posts, carousel slides, stickers, and small inserts brands put into product orders—the ones you end up keeping or screenshotting for reasons you can’t always explain. The stamps felt similar. They were tiny surfaces that said just enough to matter.
If you've noticed something similar recently, send it over. I'm curious if other brands or designers are intentionally revisiting this idea or if it's just something I've started noticing. Either way, it feels worth paying attention to.
If you'd like to keep following along or have something you'd like to share, feel free to reach out: samuel@forward-works.com