Advertising Self Mailer GoCard Social Circles New York's First Activity & Social Club

Social Circles Self-Mailer Advertising Piece

The thinking behind SocialCircles.com was simple: create an online community where New Yorkers could meet and mingle.

It's a tried and true concept.  New York City is home to many exclusive social clubs, a few dating back to the early 1800's.   According to Guest of a Guest, the ten most exclusive social clubs have membership dues that are measured in thousands of dollars and use unmarked club houses to protect their member's privacy.   Whether it's The New York Social Club, SoHo House, Norwood or The Belizean Grove - becoming a member of one of the elite social clubs takes more than money.  Sometimes you need to be well connected to join - for other clubs nothing short of having the right parents will get in.  One thing all of these successful social clubs have in common is the promise of keeping out the "wrong people" to allow members to socialize with the "right people."

Unfortunately, the founders of SocialCircles.com weren't able to focus on a single target audience : a.k.a a "Niche Market".   The website and club no longer exist - but the postcard was hidden in a box purchased at a recent estate sale.

While this advertising piece is post card size and it offers a 10%  discount to anyone presenting "this postcard" when signing up, the fact that it folds out to reveal copy inside makes it a self-mailer.

inside social circles self mailer

Despite being a self-mailer, I'm not quite sure how this piece was mailed however.    Here's a photo of the back of the card and as you can see, there isn't any space available for the destination name and address.  

back of mailer

Perhaps the plan was to either pass out the mailer at a trade show or on the streets - or perhaps enclose it inside an envelope.

It's a colorful collector's item now.  Check out the listing on ebay for this unmailed piece.