Industry Marketing Website zcard.co.uk Number of employees 40 (June 2011) | Revenue £7 million (2011) Founded 2003 Area served World | |
Key people George McDonald (Inventor); Liz Love (Managing Director) Profiles | ||
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.
Contents
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, 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.
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.