‘Change: Climate, Oceans, People’, the theme for National Marine Week, was professionally captured by PocketMedia® Solutions in its production of an engaging Z-CARD® with an attached Star Fold.

The Z-CARD® was used to educate school children and the youth. Whilst one side contains vital information about celebrating the mystery and diversity of our oceans; currents; the protection of key species; hot facts and climate change, the other side contains a map and explanation of ocean currents that give South Africa its rich biodiversity.

National Marine Week seeks to foster a sense of pride in each South African for our beautiful oceans and coasts, celebrating our unique environment and the one-of-a-kind events that occur off our coasts such as the annual KwaZulu-Natal Sardine Run.

Another National Marine Week goal is to raise awareness around the interconnectivity of our oceans with the rest of inland South Africa. “We need to create awareness that the effects on our oceans also have an effect on our inland provinces and industries.

"The Z-CARD® was selected as an educational communication medium for the second year running by the DEA O&C as it offers a unique way to market the Department's activities which appeals particularly to school pupils and the youth,” says Mr Zolile Nqayi, the Department’s director of communications.

“The medium enables us to inform our target audiences in a brief and creative way, without having to produce a whole book,” he adds.

The DEA O&C liked the way in which a Z-CARD® acts as a web driver when it contains a QR Code. A QR Code was thus printed on the front cover of the Star Fold to encourage readers to scan it for more information about Marine Week. “The QR Code targeted our IT savvy target audience who would want more information about what the Department does,” says Nqayi.

The availability of customizable layouts made PocketMedia® applications a good fit for the type and longevity of product that the DEA O&C wanted to provide for National Marine Week’s initiatives.

"Our PocketMedia® products are proving to be extremely popular within the education sector,” says John Davis, the managing director of PocketMedia® Solutions.

“This is because children are bombarded with bulky notes and thick text books daily, so the compact size of the Z-CARD® is a huge plus. We are fully supportive of such initiatives and really take pleasure in playing our part," he adds.

The cards were distributed at schools, departmental functions, universities and to a network of stakeholders. “The demand was phenomenal and we ran out of copies as soon as we received them,” Nqayi adds.

Other aspects of the campaign included calendars, print, TV and radio adverts.

For more information about PocketMedia® Solutions, visit www.zcard.com or email [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter: @PocketMedia_SA and join us on Facebook: @Pocketmediasolutions z-media.