Title	LION’S BANK MASTER KEY WORLD ELITE MASTERCARD®
Brand	IDEA BANK DIVISION LION'S BANK
Product/Service	CREDIT CARD
Category	F01. PROMOTIONAL ITEM DESIGN & PHYSICAL BRAND COMMUNICATION
Entrant Company	IDEA BANK Warsaw, POLAND
Advertising Agency	IDEA BANK Warsaw, POLAND
Production Company	OBERTHUR TECHNOLOGIES Kobylka, POLAND

Name	Company	Position
Dominik Fajbusiewicz	Idea Bank SA Division Lion's Bank	Board Member
Remigiusz Dymek	Idea Bank SA Division Lion's Bank	Art Director

Brief Explanation

Lion's Bank decided to create a unique credit card – unavailable on the commercial market and offered only to a few selected clients. Its ownership was supposed to be followed by numerous privileges and an access to a wide range of top-class financial services, but that is not the challenge that the designers had to face. Their primary objective was to create an exquisite item which would reflect the owner’s social status and arouse respect at the first sight. The task involved choosing suitable material and making the card look exclusive (i.a. through personalization) while subtly reinforcing the bank’s brand.

The Brief

Lion’s Bank is a Polish bank offering services to the wealthiest and most respected members of the society. Its primary goal is to generate income – under the guidance of its motto: earning, not saving, the bank has created tools which enable its clients to gain on substantial profits. Lion’s Bank’s main field of expertise is real estate investments. It employs professionals with many years of experience in management, capable of making the best decisions regarding their clients’ assets. In 2013 the bank wanted to come up with an elite product, referring expressly to its high-society market profile.

How the final design was conceived

By creating an irregularly shaped and vertically oriented metal card, the artist came up with a design highly unusual in the banking industry. Still, the card had to meet all the requirements of local and international banking laws and payment regulations, so great amount of work was put into legal research and formal arrangements. Given that until recently the world did not know irregularly shaped metal cards, all the devices used in the production process had to be modernized and re-programmed. That is why it took almost twelve months to produce the card (standard production process lasts about a month).

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

This card is the world’s first irregularly shaped metal card and the first European metal card oriented vertically. It weights 25 grams and is made from an alloy of nickel, copper and zink, which makes it not only extremely durable, but also exquisite looking. The card distinguishes itself primarily through elegant, minimalist design - its front is marked with a reflective logotype in the shape of a lion’s head, with a cardholder's name engraved directly beneath it. The design is even more integral thanks to the concealment of the serial number on the card's obverse.