Robert May created the red-nosed reindeer known as Rudolph as part of this.
Postage stamp series
A calendar
Cheering up his dying daughter
Advertising campaign
Advertising campaign. May created the character and wrote the story for a Montgomery Ward ad campaign in Chicago in 1939. His brother-in-law/songwriter Johnny Marks set the story to music. An urban legend says May created Rudolph to cheer his dying daughter. In fact, his wife was dying but that had nothing to do with creating the popular Christmas character.