I met the Shitij Malhotra the ‘Chief’ of a Company called Traveller Kids at a Kids Expo in Delhi recently.
As usual, I was in a rush and barely got to exchange ideas with him, but what did catch my attention was his unique Business Card.
Starting with this post, therodinhoods.wpengine.com will attempt to showcase (and encourage contributions) in a new section of the site called Creativity!
The concept is to highlight that beyond plain dumb and wasteful ‘paid’ marketing, it’s ideas like these that add that special boost to a Company’s viral and image marketing and gets it serious fans and users!
I always emphasize on getting the product right and packaging it innovatively to sell the story, rather than a sad ad.
Check out the card(s)
I just loved the experience of making a paper plane out a visiting card and believed the message that Shitij sent me as a follow up:
From: Shitij Malhotra <shitij@travellerkids.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 3:02 PM
Subject: Meeting at World Children’s Expo
To: alok@games2win.com
Well done Shitij!!
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If you have a creative business ‘expression’ – a card, a poster, your PPTs, or even the way you write e-mails, then fire up a discussion here and save it under the category ‘Creativity’!
If it impresses the editors at therodinhoods.wpengine.com, you will even get a special promotion of your post!!
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Arjuman Amjad
Interesting… Excited about the Creativity section on rodinhoods. It is going to be my favorite place!
Abey John
Oh man. How does he manage with a name like his? 🙂
Nice trick though. You don’t easily forget the paper plane building.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Abey, can u expand your point on the name? I didnt get it…
Abey John
With a name like shitij…
Gurpreet Singh Tikku
Abey, It means Horizon!!
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
That was a mean, crass message
In hindi, Abey means “hey you…” (abay / Abey sun)
Abey, are u getting along ok?
Abey John
I know I know how it is with names. Didn’t mean it to be mean or crass. Apologies all around if it came out sounding like that. Just pointing out the way it is and come on Alok we need to be able to laugh at ourselves.
With my name I have given up trying to correct anybody. Actually never tried… They’ll call me by my correct pronunciation as long as they’ve just heard it orally. The moment they see it in print I get called all sorts of things.
So yes, I know what it is like…to some extent.
Getting along okay as in?
Abey John
That’s very cool Gurpreet. In fact, I love it.
Nishant Agrawal
Check this out
https://m.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/05/100-really-creative-business-cards/
Kaushal Bhavsar
Not very creative but this is the kind of visiting cards our team members use.
I actually give them freedom to design their cards on their own, as long as logo dimensions are unaltered.
Shitij Malhotra
@Abey. Life’s been good so far, definitely never heard something like this.
Just enjoy the spirit of the blog post and have a nice day!
@gurpreet @alok thanks 🙂
Abey John
I don’t agree Kaushal. It is extremely creative. Building a paper plane when you are an adult transports you back to the days of your childhood. Ties in very nicely with his company name too. And you are not going to easily forget it. Business cards are so forgettable.
See: https://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20050131/emotions-make-memory-last
What Shitij’s card does is it fires up your emotion and that hardcodes it into memory.
Kaushal Bhavsar
Abey, I am talking about the design of the card sample I have posted above, and my comment has nothing to do with Shitij’s card. It is definitely a brilliant concept and I won’t comment on it.
Abey John
Oh sorry. My bad. Looks like today is my foot-in-my-mouth day. 🙁
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
i love your spirit man!! RESPECT AND LOVE!!
Wish i could take ur DNA and first inject it in myself and then in some others!!
Gurpreet Singh Tikku
Abey Bhai……………Kadi kadi honda hai (It happnes some times)……………….Relax.
🙂
Abey John
Gurpreet/Alok, thanks.
Hmmm…gives me an idea for a post.
Ramnath Banerjee
That’s truly a beauty.
Milan Bavishi
wow. Thats very creative.
Well thought concept, Shitij.
All the best!
Shitij Malhotra
I quite liked the idea of having a QR code on the visiting card and we did think of putting it. I think we will see alot of cards with QR codes in the near future, though much smaller.
I’m also a big fan of putting your photo on your visiting card, the Chinese/Taiwanese/Singapore guys do this very often and it is so useful to remember a person and the entire conversation just by looking at their photo.
We tried doing both of these things on the card, but the paper plane won our heart and the designer didn’t have any real estate left.
Another very important thing to put is what your company does, especially if you are not a brand and your name is not self explanatory.
I think quirky visiting cards are a very massive motivation tool for employees especially younger/junior ones who want something to show the world what they are doing.
Devgad Mango
We used this till this season. But we guess it hasn’t been quite attractive and may be many people didn’t understand that the fruit (mango) is actually the chief, as it will stay for years and we will come and go! Thinking of changing by the next season!
Abey John
Oh hey! The man himself. Hope you are okay with the dig I took at your name. And my apologies if you found it offensive. It wasn’t meant to be.
It’s not the quirky so much as the emotion it engenders that anchors it. You have pretty cards all over the place. Pretty but forgetable.
Shitij Malhotra
No offense taken, but the comment wasn’t required.
Cheers
Abey John
Understood. I am so used to my name being mangled in all languages that I applied the same yardstick. Guess it doesn’t work that way.
Suresh Mansharamani
Amazing very very creative
Zuhaib Khan
Now, I can say I have seen a ‘Viral’ business card! Great work!
Thanks to Alok too for helping us see this 🙂
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
wow! thats a really nice expression!!!!