Avant Card, Australia’s first free postcard advertising company, will close its doors at the end of July 2017 after 25 years in business.
Since being established in 1992, the company produced more than 20,000 campaigns, and distributed more than 300 million postcards in venues including cafes, hotels, cinemas, high schools and universities.
The very last card to be issued will be card number 20850, titled “Elvis has left the building.”
“Although the product offerings were expanded beyond the classic postcard, the combination of the rise of digital advertising, funding cuts to the arts - the company’s number one client base, reduced marketing budgets in all sectors, and a very competitive media environment, has resulted in the business no longer being financially sustainable,” says Avant Card founder and MD Pat Mackle.
“It is with sadness, tinged with immense pride, that the time has come for the very last Avant Card to grace our displays. Who would have thought that 25 years ago, as an unemployed 28-year-old, we could have come this far, placing a postcard a day into the hands of delighted people.”
Ground-breaking in the early 1990’s, Avant Card was an informative and tangible out-of-home medium that was popular with people of all ages. The company had offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“All thanks to everyone who ever believed in the product...the humble postcard," says Mackle. "I wish to pass on my heartfelt thanks for all the clients that also believed in me, for all the many staff over the years that have been by my side and given a piece of themselves to the business, through the good times, the fun times and the tough times. Although we will be gone, I hope some postcards will be treasured and live on.
“Dear Avant Card,” Mackle writes in an email, "thanks so much for being my best friend, for giving me a great life, for introducing me to so many amazing people, for allowing me the privilege of giving back to society and for being part of so many people’s lives. I have loved every moment. Yours sincerely, Pat Mackle.”