Following the successful cardphone trial and launch of British Telecom Phonecards in 1981, it wasn't until 1986 that BT decided to open up the front of the card to advertising. Until to that point, all previous cards had been issued with synonymous bright green card design often referred to as 'greenie' or 'greenies'.
The decision was to change quite literally, the face of the cards and also acted as a catalyst for many people to start collecting telephone cards.
Pictured above - Trebor BT Phonecard card complete with Phonecard leaflet.
The very first Phonecard to feature advertising was a card carrying an advert for Graham's Whisky (pictured right) and carried the words "Make that call with the Compliments of Graham's Black Bottle Scotch Whisky" - some 15,000 cards were produced.
In the subsequent years that followed many other major household names (at the time) also had Phonecards commissioned these included Persil, Palmolive, Glaxo, Castrol GTX, Horlicks and American Express to name but a few. View a number of the BT Advertising (BTA) Phonecards.
Pictured above - First BT Phonecard used for 'advertising' - Graham's Black Bottle Scotch Whisky (BTA001) issued in 1986.
To increase awareness for BT Phonecards among the public, British Telecom commissioned a series of TV adverts were produced. The first of which starred David Jason in 1985 as security van driver, the second is from 1986 and a third from 1992 promoting the Cornflakes telephone card, which was available through collecting tokens.
The following year in 1987 saw the start of commemorative issue Phonecards appearing. These cards were launched to commemorate a number of different seasonal, sporting and social gathering events as well as appeals and raising awareness for a number of institutions and charities. The very first commemorative issues were a set of three cards for the Golf at Muirfield which included a 10, 20 and 100 unit cards of the same design.
Later in 1987 at the PTB Seminar in Bournemouth Landis and Gyr manufacturers of British Telecom phone cards were showcasing a new process of four colour offset litho printing to create pictorial cards.
From this point forward BT were able to use photos on the front of their cards. The first Phonecard issued with this new printing method was the BTC004 Christmas 1987 phonecard - some 100,000 cards were produced. The card and start of collecting even made an appearance on the BBC One TV programme Tomorrow's World. Watch the short Tomorrow's World video clip. Vew a number of the BT Commemorative (BTC) Phonecards.
Pictured above - the first public issued BT Phonecard (BTC004) to feature a colour photo. The card depicts a photo of Regents Street in London, England, UK at Christmas.
Pictured above - England Football team 1996 (BTC181), part of an eight card set of BT Phonecards issued in 1996.
Until 1990/91 it had been mainly International and national companies that could afford to use the medium of Phonecards to advertise/promote their business, product and/or brand. This though was about to change, when BT decided to reduce the minimum number of Phonecards that had to be ordered together with the minimum number of units on a card.
Pictured above - Wisk keeps pink perky - Ogilvy & Mather promotional BT Phonecard (BTP087). 500 cards were commissioned in 1992.
Up to that point, order quantities of Phonecards had to be in excess of 25,000 Phonecards, with a minimum denomination of 20 units (£2).
From 1990/91 BT would overprint as few as 500 Phonecards and on any of the card denominations, which were 5 units (50p*), 10 units (£1*), 20 units (£2), 40 units (£4), 100 units (£10) and 200 units (£20).
*The 5 and 10 unit cards were intended for use exclusively as 'giveaway' promotional items"
This decision by BT, like the one in 1986 gave rise to a marked increase in the numbers of cards that were being commissioned and produced. This of course had a direct impact on the number of collectors or fusilatelists as they are known who took up the hobby of telephone card collecting, fueling demandand also fueling prices!
Pictured above - Used promotional Churchgate 20unit BT Phonecard (BTP321). 1,000 cards were issued in 1995.
All manner of private phone cards were commissioned including cards to promote the more obvious like businesses, but also the less obvious like schools, charities, singers/bands, nightclubs, TV and film franchises e.g. Star Wars, X-Files, Doctor Who, Thunderbirds, sporting personalities from track, golf, F1 and football and as you'd more likely expect phonecard collector fairs, clubs and dealers also had a number of cards specially made.
A number of years later in 1995 BT then decided to increase the minimum order quantity from 500 cards to 1000 cards. View a number of the BT Promotional (BTP) Phonecards.
Pictured below - Aston Martin DB7 Volante 100unit BT Phonecard (BTP384). 1,000 cards were issued.
BT medical phone cards were commissioned by drug and pharmaceutical companies and given away to doctors, GPs, dentists, hospitals, health centres, chemists, etc.
Although effectively advertising Phonecards, these telephone cards were given their own section within the UK 1 telephone catalogue as UK legislation prohibited the advertising of any 'prescription only' drug or pharmaceutical product directly to prospective patients.
This advertising ban made BTM (medical advertising) Phonecards at the time they were produced - late eighties through to early the noughties - hard or harder to source than many other collectible Phonecards.
However, where there's a will there's a way, many collectors simply spoke to their family GP or local chemists, etc. For me, a friend of a friend at school mum worked within the medical sector and I managed to obtain a number of Lodine (BTM014) phonecards, which I then took along to Phonecard fairs to swap out for other medical cards including the first ever medical card produced in 1988 for Glaxo Laboratories (BTM001) pictured left.
The other source of BT medical cards was only course in the form of used copies from BT's green bins (phonecard waste bins) located beneath Cardphone payphones.
BTM phonecards face values vary from 5units (50p) up to 20units (£2). Many BTM Phonecards, on the request of the commissioning drugs company (and an extra charge) were supplied wrapped by British Telecom in clear window packets.
Some pharmaceutical companies though went one step further with accompanying promotional posters or sleeves produced to display or contain the Phonecard. An example of this is a telephone card produced to advertise and promote Codafen Continus Tablets. The Codafen phonecard (as pictured right) was given away contained within a cardboard sleeve.
View BT Medical (BTM) catalogued phonecards.
Pictured above - Ibugel - Ibuprofen Gel Medical 5unit BT Phonecard (BTM011).
BT internal Phonecards were commisioned internally within British Telecom (BT) by various different departments. Large numbers of BTI cards were issued to BT employees only e.g. Winners Matters, while other cards were used at public events BT Swimathon '92 and Saloman Fun Run, Battersea Park. Telephone card print runs vary from just 15 (BTI154) to 170,000 (BTI051) copies of a single card.
View BT Internal (BTI) catalogued phonecards.
Pictured above - Winning Matters 5unit internal BT Phonecard (BTI051) issued to staff, 170,000 cards were produced.
Following various trials including the 'Beta Trial' in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight in 1995 BT Chip Cards superseded BT optical phonecards nationwide in June 1996. The new chip based telephone card could be used in more payphones than the optical based predecessor. BT chip cards were issued between 1996 and 2002. In 2002, BT phased out BT Phonecards altogether as a method of payment in their public payphone network. This was due to the increase use of the mobile phone.
BT chip cards all featured an expiry, a date in which the telephone card could no longer be used.
Denominations available of BT chip cards included 50p, £1, £2, £3, £5, £10 and £20.
View BT chip card catalogued BT Phonecards.
Pictured above - Beta Trial £20 BT phonecard - the front and reverse of the card are shown. The card was used in a Phonecard trial in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight in 1995.
Last updated: 19th August 2024
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