Month: September 2026

Every small business owner knows just how important Five Star Google reviews are. Just like everybody else, the Postercowboy loves to receive excellent reviews, but he‘s usually not too fond of writing them. More often than not, those constant (and often repeated) email demands have an air of ‚We already got your money, now we want some of your time as well. For free.‘ Sorry to say, social media marketing experts: No can do.

With old-school marketing expert Tom Sawyer in mind, I figured I had to do better than that. Instead of sending annoying emails I decided to print a flyer instead.

5 CARD STUD is a 1968 western mystery, starring Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum. The movie poster shows both stars in somewhat awkward poses, pointing a gun at each other.

I used that image as a starting point and came up with this:

For those of you who are not into gambling, 5 CARD STUD is a poker variant. My version feels more like the title for a 1970s adult movie.

Of course, 5 STAR STUD is also a not-so-subtle hint that is further explained on the backside:

So far, so good. We uploaded this on the print shop‘s website, double checked about 5 times that we got it all right, and sent it off.

A few days later (online printers can be really, really fast these days) the final product arrived. I unpacked the cards and the front looked great, exactly as planned. Then I turned the card over, and the text was upside down. F**k.

I complained to the printer, and it turned out that for some technical reason they had messed with the backside and turned it around. They also said there would be no point to try again, as the outcome would be exactly the same and canceled my bill.

Needless to say, I was seriously annoyed. But not annoyed enough to discard the misprinted cards immediately. Instead, I started toying with them for a few days and also handed them out to a few visitors at the shop.

This revealed a rather interesting effect: When handling a horizontal postcard, we always flip it over the long side. Same as reading a book. I do it, and apparently everybody else does as well.
In this case, since the cards were misprinted, the text is upside down. Not what you would expect.

The only way to read the text on the back is to turn the card over the short side. Going back and forth this way creates a flipbook effect. And actually is a lot more fun than looking at an ‘ordinary’ postcard.

By creating a technical error, the print shop actually improved my design. Considerably.

Now if you want to toy around with one of these yourself, there is an easy way: Simply place an order on www.filmposter.net and I will make sure to include one in your package!

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