When something works, it might change its appearance to keep up with the times, but the idea will continue to be used. That’s true of an old standby, the advertising envelope.

If you’re a philatelist, you call them advertising covers or illustrated covers.

But whatever name you use, they’ve been popular as advertising, marketing, and patriotic message vehicles since Civil War times.

As I said, they’re still used today. An advertising envelope appeared in the mail just last week — and it comes from a financial institution.

This isn’t contemporary “regular” advertising mail, like your typical promotional project. Instead, the main purpose of the envelope is to deliver a monthly statement. The “advertising envelope” aspect comes from the printed message on the outside of the envelope.

This is a dual promotion. Initially, the bank encourages customers to switch to e-Statements. More than that, when a customer switches during the promotion period, the bank purchases a tree through the National Arbor Day Foundation. The trees will be shipped to and planted in areas struck by natural disasters. (You can see details by clicking on the image.)

Incidentally, inside the envelope was a buckslip (insert) that promoted the e-Statement/tree program in greater detail.

So just like financial institutions and other businesses have been using their business envelopes as promotional vehicles for over a century, the strategy continues today. If you’re mailing only those plain white #10s, you could get more value from them by using their outer surface for a secondary message.

It doesn’t even need to be product specific. Use the envelope to promote a new location, spread news about a change in hours, promote an upcoming event like customer appreciation day, and the list goes on.

Now, imagine how your bank or credit union can use this idea.

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Arbor Day was started by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska City, Nebraska, in 1872. See when it’s celebrated in your state.

Appropriately, the National Arbor Day Foundation headquarters are in Nebraska.