Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally created for Montgomery Ward department stores as part of a promotional gimmick. They hired a writer named Robert L. May in 1939 to write a Christmas story which could be given away to holiday shoppers. May's brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, liked the story and decided to write a song to go with it. The resulting "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", eventually recorded in 1949 by Gene Autry, has become a Christmas classic.