Z-CARD

For the document issued to mariners, see Merchant Mariner's Document.
ZCARD
Industry Marketing
Founded 2003
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 George McDonald (Inventor)
Liz Love (Managing Director)
Revenue £7 million (2011)[1]
Number of employees
 40 (June 2011)
Website zcard.co.uk

Z-CARD is the registered trademark for the foldable guide invented by George McDonald when he was a travel writer and consultant for British Airways.

History

McDonald found that traditional fold-out maps were too bulky to carry with him on travel research trips and wanted a more convenient solution. From this the Z-CARD was developed and launched in 1992,[1] with the company as it looks today being founded in 2003.

The Z-CARD was quickly adopted as a marketing communications tool and reached such prevalence that the term z-card is now used as reference to many z-fold or concertina card and not just those produced by Z-CARD Ltd. While Z-CARD pioneered the z-fold market from 1992, a number of other companies have since entered the market by producing their own take on the z-fold format. The original inspiration for the product came from the familiar fold-out map format.

Z-CARD has won industry recognition for their products, with clients winning awards such as Euro RSCG's Heist Awards. Loughborough University developed the Maths Card—a classic Z-Card format that opens out to reveal an extensive list of pure maths formulae—that also claimed top honours in the Direct Marketing category of the Heist Awards.

Applications

The Z-CARD and similar products have been used for a wide range of applications, including internal corporate communications, product and services information and promotional merchandise across all major industries.

Use of technology

In recent years, cards have featured technology such as Radio-frequency identification, QR codes and Augmented reality.[1][2]

Awards

In 2011, Z-CARD won the Chartered Institute of Marketing Excellence Award in the SME category. Previous winners of CIM awards include Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann Erickson and JCDecaux.

In 2010, Z-CARD won South London Business of the Year and the Best Business for Marketing categories at the South London Business Awards.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Telegraph Z-Card seeks to shape up for austerity times 2011-4-19, retrieved 2012-12-10
  2. ↑ Printweek Z-Card launches augmented reality PocketMedia product 2010-07-21, retrieved 2012-12-10
  3. ↑ South London Business RBS South London Business Awards 2009 retrieved 2012-12-10

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 13, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.