Cooper & Beatty ‘Imagination is our third partner’ advertisement, 1958

This bold ad is a decided departure from the kind of advertising printers had come to expect from typesetting shops.

Allan Fleming had joined Cooper & Beatty as Creative Director in 1957. One year later he produced this remarkable ad signally, in effect, that C&B are no longer to be thought of as traditional typesetters. They are graphic designers who primarily use type and letterforms as communication tools.

Hidden within the strong shapes are clear references to the changing business. The past is represented by the two rectangles with the semi-circular notches found on all metal foundry types. The stylized light bulb is the future, which at the time was photo typesetting. Fleming places the line ‘Imagination is our third partner’, inside the light bulb, pointing out that it wasn’t only the technology that was changing at C&B.

To those who were paying attention, this would have been a groundbreaking ad in 1958.

Artifact Text

Imagination is our third partner
Cooper & Beatty, Limited. 196 Adelaide St. West, Toronto.
type craftsmen