History of COMDA: How it All Began!

As the 45th anniversary of COMDA approaches, we want to invite you to take a sneak peek of how it all started. Our story begins in the early part of the 1970’s – 1973 to be exact. The top song is “Angie” by the Rolling Stones, Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in the heavily promoted battle of the Sexes Tennis match and COMDA begins printing as guests in St Joseph’s building. COMDA, an acronym for Complete Dealer Aids, was one of the first providers of promotional products in Canada. The first products COMDA imprinted were stationery; forms and calendars were imprinted using a Heidelberg Press. This marks the beginning of a long-lasting relationship between COMDA and the automotive aftermarket, back when gas stations still pumped your gas!. Business was certainly a little different in the beginning.  In the early days, customer orders were mailed in.  Order forms would specify product quantities and an imprint sample would be enclosed along with a cheque (no credit cards back then!) to be created.

Fast forward to the early part of the 1980’s when we expanded our imprinting services to general businesses across Canada and introduced a series of catalogues titled “The Canadian Advertising Corner”. It was around this time that we began printing other products, which later became staples in the promotional advertising industry. We played an important role in establishing industry standards by facilitating imprinting on: pens, mugs, bottle openers, signs, lighters, key tags, caps, and clothing. We still offer all of these products, and, thanks to the support of our customers, the list keeps growing. As the advertising industry changes, we have made improvements to our processes with the aim at offering a better service for our customers.

Since 1973, COMDA has been one of North America’s leading publishers of high quality, affordable, business advertising wall calendars and a full range of promotional products. We have helped provide promotional products directly to more than 60,000 business customers throughout North America. Our goal is to maintain our high standards of production and customer service by expanding into new markets and catering to new demographics. We want to continue to provide the same quality service to our existing customers, while encouraging younger generations to work with us. As we understand that advertising is moving away from traditional methods, we continue to evolve.  But some things, like the quality of our products and the love we have for our customers, will never change.

Stay tuned this year as we highlight important milestones that facilitated growth at COMDA over the last 45 years! We look forward to celebrating with you!