Plastic cards: fantastic or fad?

Darren Cottingham presents the case for plastic business cards. They could be that little extra branding boost that makes the difference.

Lesson number one in Japanese business card etiquette: When you receive another person’s card (or ‘meishi’ in Japanese), make a show of carefully examining it for around five seconds, and then make a positive remark about it. Do not shove it in your back pocket, write a note on it, or sling yours to other people across the boardroom table like you’re skimming a stone on a placid lake.

A business card in Japan is a ceremonial opportunity; in New Zealand it’s simply a functional set of contact details and a reminder of the company’s logo. Unless, that is, you have an exquisitely crafted plastic card that makes use of transparency and multi-layered colour. Personally, I’ve only twice had someone take my card and not acknowledge that it was something different – it’s a talking point, and I’m proud of handing my card out in all circumstances. So do plastic cards have the longevity of jeans, or are they simply a fad destined to go the way of Hello Kitty wedding towels?

First impressions

Other than your personal appearance (and odour), your business card is often the first impression of your company that a potential client or associate receives. As well as conveying the important contact details, it might also be the only chance you get at that time to differentiate yourself from your competitors with a positive brand image. If you’re wondering whether a crisp and tactile plastic card will impress more than a slightly dog-eared paper card you fish out of your wallet ask yourself this question: would your sister prefer to go out with Brad Pitt or a toothless Bolivian goat herder?

Image sells, but that’s not to say that an amazing paper card won’t sell better than a badly designed plastic card. It’s horses for courses, so when you’re jockeying amongst your competitors for the rich pickings, here are the pros and cons.

Plastic cards are recyclable and durable they’ll survive the washing machine, coffee spilled into your lap, and bending.You can layer different colours and use transparent areas to give real depth to the design, even leaving some areas completely transparent, and you’ll be in a minority if you have them.

However, they’re much more time consuming to design, and more expensive to print, particularly for short runs.You can’t write on them as well as paper cards, and if you don’t round the edges they’re quite sharp. Often thicker than paper cards, you’ll not fit as many in wherever you carry them – be careful not to run out! In many cases inks are mixed by hand so achieving a perfect colour match to printed material is difficult.

So: fantastic or fad? If you’re in an industry where image is important they could be that little extra branding boost that makes the difference. In some respects they’re more functional than conventional cards, and that’s probably what sums it up – who wants to be ‘conventional’ in today’s lightning-paced world?