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An estimated 15,000 people attended the Cannes Lions Festival last week, who took the opportunity to network, share ideas, and - probably - hand each other business cards.
Now they are back at their desks, we wonder if any of those business cards have made it beyond the ritualistic bag clear-out on a Sunday night. In the digital age - where things like AI and digital innovation are at the top of the agenda - is there really a need for the old-school business card? Why - when you could tap your phone against someone else's - would you want the expense and admin of designing and printing a business card, which according to studies, 88% of them will be thrown away?
However, a business card that is different, is usually a business card that is kept - even shared and shown to friends, colleagues and family, posted on Instagram. It feels good to be given a business card, and it feels good to give one. So while the debate between AI and creativity might be a hot topic right now, people are still looking for ways to connect with the human.
At &above, we’re always thinking of ways to connect people and businesses using an amalgamation of creativity and technology to cut through the noise and be remembered.
When it came to designing a business card for our CEO to take to Cannes, we knew we needed to catch peoples attention. With &above's recent rebrand, we wanted to capture attention from above. So, what better way to do it than with the worlds smallest kite, obviously...
These kites and packages conjure up images of a bird soaring across the sky, rolling landscapes, and oceans - as we show you the world from &above's unique vantage point. This concept followed the same creative culture that inspired elements of our visual rebrand - Japan.
The minimalistic illustrations used across the &above brand are drawn from Japanese Hokusai paintings of nature and the world around us. So, as we stepped away from technology led concepts and took to the sky, we used the idea of origami's human connection and play in its simplest of forms to bring our business cards to life.
Japanese business card culture, and origami, informed a business card that encourages play and leaves the beholder with a small piece of delight.
What we love to add more too the mix is the guidelines for exchanging business cards in Japan:
- Make sure that your business card holder is out, and the cards inside are easily accessible.Stand up and face the other person with your business card out and ready.
- Your business card should face the other person, i.e. they should be able to read it without the need of rotating or turning it.
- Bow slightly as you say your name and present your business card. Use two hands to pass your business card to the other person and when receiving the other person's card. At the moment of exchange, pass your card using your right hand and receive the other person's card with your left, before holding their card with both hands.
- Take a moment to inspect the business card. Put the received business cards into your card holder, or if continuing to a meeting in the same place, put the cards neatly on the table in front of you. It is common practice to line the business cards on the table in order of seating arrangement so that it is easy to remember names.
- Do not take notes on other people's business cards or put their cards into your pant pockets in front of other people.
These customs enforce this idea of human connection, interacting with the people we connect with by physical means - not connecting on LinkedIn and forgetting who that is on your timeline a month later. So our worlds smallest kite demonstrates to our new connections at Cannes the playful, fun and creative side of our business while paying homage to more traditional ways of exchanging information. And to remind us that there is still space for physical media in an increasingly digital world.
