The Hindu Business Line : Playing its cards right

Cards4U, an out-of-home advertising company, relies on that truth to create well designed, smart and funny postcards for clients trying to reach out to the young affluent urban Indian.

The company was established when Noreen van Holstein, Managing Director, Cards4u Free Cards, came to India and found the idea of free cards missing from the urban youth entertainment scene.

“I am from Europe. Free cards are an essential part of the youth culture. Not just to grab your attention and advertise your clients, but also as a sub-culture informing people about what’s happening and what’s trendy and passing on social messages,” says Holstein, who is from the Netherlands.

In the two-and-a-half years since inception, Cards4U has managed to sew up a network of 500 ‘hotspots’ or popular cafes, restaurants and pubs across 17 cities that include Cafe Coffee Day, Planet M and the Provogue Studio. On the client list are FMCG major Unilever, Big FM radio, History Channel, KLM Airlines, Adidas and the UB Group.

A well-designed campaign releases about one lakh cards and according to General Manager Cornelie Guise, these have been emptied out of their racks in four to five weeks.

“Business is good, but business, of course, can always be better,” says Holstein. But it’s the adoption and understanding of the medium that she is hoping to see grow more urgently.

“Clients still find it difficult to think out of the box and generally come up with very traditional ideas. Many creatives still consider the medium as a borderline act, of their below-the-line activities.

“Although I would like to believe that even the target audience is actually waiting to be entertained with more exciting ideas,” says Holstein.

The creative team of Cards4U sometimes has suggestions to offer. Sometimes they just bring out their own ideas to make sure that the medium is also used to encourage arts, share information about city happenings and engage its audience in issues that should matter to them. Or for fun.

Currently it’s a brain teaser – a giraffe with zebra stripes. Earlier they had even released a Western-style ‘Wanted!’ picture of a colleague of theirs who was leaving the country.

The effectiveness of the 4 x 6 format is not the question.

Some of the successful one have been the Sudoku cards, WorldSpace’s pink flower-shaped cards and the double- heart cards for Kwality Walls’ Cornetto, one to keep and one to offer to your date.

“The first thing is to get the customer to pick it up. (Cards4U will never be handed out!) But what’s more important is what they do with it following that. Do they pass it on, do they mail it or put it at their workstation?” says Holstein.

The possibilities to explore include heat-sensitive cards that make illustrations appear when you rub your thumb on them, glow-at-night cards, foldable ones, scratch-to-smell cards that deo brand Axe used, or the more obvious sampling cards that Bru used to distribute about 50,000 of its cappuccino sachets points out Guise.

Cards4U is not the first company in the space, but its predecessor probably got there too early, believes Holstein. Eating out habits hadn’t gained ground, nor were the young such a powerful buying force.

Today more and more people spend leisure time outside of their homes, allowing Holstein and her team to release between 50 and 70 designs a year.

She’s also looking to expand the network and the marketing team that also offers feedback services to clients.

Guise is currently hoping to convince a large international agency to use the cards for social and art messaging.

They already have KLM sponsor ART-cards, and say it’s an opportunity for clients to share their social responsibility. Holstein’s keen that Cards4U is as much a part of the city’s culture listing out events, discussing important social issues, and encouraging artists as its part of client campaigns.

A black-and-white self-portrait accompanied by a few honest lines from the artists makes a very convincing pitch for an amateur photographer.

The team at Cards4U is also pushing the limits of the dynamic 4 x 6 inch postcard medium trying to get bolder ideas and greater interactivity onto it.

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