States around Australia have swooped in to save Avant Card’s iconic free postcards.
Avant Card founder, Pat Mackle, is pleased the company’s legacy will live on, but has said it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
“The companies I approached expressed mixed interest and the process went on for several months. In the end, I failed to find one company to buy Avant Card in its entirety.”
Instead, Mackle broke down the business by selling the display units and client lists to state-based media companies.
The latest to have a stake in Avant Card is Melbourne-based media company, Mr Moto, purchasing Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney displays.
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Other prominent companies that have rescued Avant Card include Spy in Canberra, The Poster Girls in Perth and Passing Out Distribution in Adelaide. The only state not to produce a buyer was Hobart.
Avant Card’s closure comes after falling sales due to the business’s biggest client base, the arts and culture scene, being lured away by the rising influence of digital media.
Mackle says despite there being a possibility Avant Card could have merged online, it wasn’t something she was interested in.
“It would have taken a big investment to employ the services of external providers to assist with this and it wasn’t something we could financially invest in.”
The company tried to diversify into mini-magazines and street distribution to avoid rising costs, but Mackle says the new concepts weren’t working.
Avant Card was launched in 1992 after Mackle noticed free postcards being used as promotional material in cafes in Copenhagen. She thought the idea could work in Australia too.
Upon returning home, Mackle gained funding through the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS), paying her $135 a week in salary via JobStart.
Photo: Avant Card
Since then, the business nationally expanded with 30 employees assisting in the production and distribution of 250 million postcards to 1600 venues. Some of which include cafes, bars, cinemas, theatres, libraries, galleries and universities within Australia. Most years, Avant Card would turn over between $3 million and $4 million in revenue.
Mackle acknowledges that postcards as a form of communication in its conventional sense are almost obsolete, but says they served well as a novelty form of advertising for festivals, events and exhibitions.
Founder of art collective Primary Arcade, Monica Balaz, has used free postcards for promoting brands, festivals and galleries her non-profit organisation has collaborated with.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWykVEbgutZ/?taken-by=primaryarcade
Balaz says she would continue to pay for such marketing if she perceived her event would gain greater awareness from more traditional means rather than through social media.
“If I was promoting something without a fast turnaround like a festival in a few months’ time, I’d definitely re-consider the services of one of the free postcard companies. But more as quirky collateral rather than a primary marketing source.”
It’s clear Avant Card is a company with just as many loyal clients as fans with tributes filling their Instagram and Facebook page and even personal emails sent to Mackle herself.
Mackle says the outpouring of shock, grief and disbelief that they have closed has been enormous.
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Now clearing out Avant Card’s library, Mackle says the process has been bittersweet, discovering 25 years-worth of postcards and picking out her favourites to keep. The rest of the collection is set to go to the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
“They are a snapshot of a moment in time, a great reminder of events and special times.”
The very last card to be issued by Avant Card is number 20,850 fittingly titled, “Elvis has left the building.”
Although Mackle is saying goodbye to Avant Card, her business ventures don’t stop there as expansion to her husband’s two eco-stores at the Prahran Market are on the horizon.
“After a much-deserved break after 25 years at Avant Card, I believe ‘Ripe’ and ‘Shop Neutral’ are ready to be taken to the next level. I’d like to see what’s possible to do with this enterprise if I worked in it.”
Australian media companies may be breathing new life into the 25-year-old postcard promotional strategy, but Mackle hopes for Avant Card to be remembered as the first.
“We were a special unique form of advertising, providing something valuable for free. We supported charities, the environment and sponsoring artists. We were a vibrant artistic medium.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BT5-vSbAGo5/?hl=en&taken-by=avantcardmedia
