Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Chicago-based Montgomery Ward. The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. Robert May considered naming the reindeer "Rollo" or "Reginald" before deciding upon using the name "Rudolph". May said his daughter liked reindeer, and he said he was treated like Rudolph as a child. In its first year of publication, Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of Rudolph's story. The story is written as a poem in anapestic tetrameter, the same meter as "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"). Publication and reprint rights for the book "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" are controlled by Pearson PLC.