On July 1,1963, the U.S. Postal Service adopted the popular cartoon figure as the trademark for the Zoning Improvement Plan, or ZIP Code, to better handle increasing mail volume.
Mr. ZIP was not always postal. Harold Wilcox, son of a letter carrier and member of the Cunningham and Walsh advertising agency, created Mr. ZIP for use in a bank-by-mail campaign by Chase Manhattan Bank. Wilcox's design was a childlike sketch of a postman delivering a letter. The figure was used only a few times, and then filed away.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company acquired the design from the Cunningham and Walsh agency and made it available to the Post Office Department without cost. Post Office Department artists retained the face, sharpened the limbs and torso, and added a mail bag.
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