A comp card is a marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 tool for actors and especially models

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

. They serve as the latest and best of a model's portfolio

Career portfolio

Career portfolios are used to plan, organize and document education, work samples and skills. People use career portfolios to apply to jobs, apply to college or training programs, get a higher salary, show transferable skills, and to track personal development. They are more in-depth than a resume,...

 and are used as a business card

Business card

Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation and contact information such as street addresses, telephone...

. A Z-CARD

Z-CARD

The Z-CARD® is the registered trademark for the foldable guide invented by George McDonald when he was a travel writer and consultant for British Airways. McDonald found that traditional fold-out maps were too bulky to carry with him on travel research trips and wanted a more convenient solution...

 is also a folded leaflet format, typically used for marketing communications campaigns for example a loyalty programme or seasonal promotion.

History

Peter Marlowe in London invented models composites in 1965, then printed on paper to an A4 format. The format was changed in 1972 to an A5 card format, for filing purposes, and a few other companies started publishing cards for the model industry under different trade names since Peter Marlowe had registered the Trade Mark “Model Composite” in Europe and the USA. Amongst these was Sebastian Sed who traded under the name Sed Cards, which are sometimes mis-pronounced as Z ("Zed") or Set cards. The publishing house of Marlowe Press stopped trading in 1990 and the words "models composites" and "comp cards" became generic within the model industry. Comp card databases and creation tools have moved online in recent years.

Format

A comp card typically contains a minimum of two pictures — cover page with full size portrait and a second page with a broad selection of representative shots from the portfolio

Career portfolio

Career portfolios are used to plan, organize and document education, work samples and skills. People use career portfolios to apply to jobs, apply to college or training programs, get a higher salary, show transferable skills, and to track personal development. They are more in-depth than a resume,...

 — and the model's basic stats — typically height, weight, three sizes for women (bust, waist, hips) and for men (suit or chest, waist, inseam), shoe size

Shoe size

A shoe size is an alphanumerical indication of the fitting size of a shoe for a person. Often it just consists of a number indicating the length because many shoemakers only provide a standard width for economic reasons....

, eye and hair color

Hair color

Hair color is the pigmentation of hair follicles due to two types of melanin: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Generally, if more melanin is present, the color of the hair is darker; if less melanin is present, the hair is lighter...

, nationality and contact information — printed on both sides of an 8.5" x 5.5" piece of card stock (12 pt stock) (US) or A5 on card weight (350/400gm2 stock in metric countries) which is between 300 and 450 microns thick depending on the card stock or quality chosen (Europe, Asia).

Use

Comp cards have been around for many years as the essential marketing tool for a model and are likely to retain this standing because they are an inexpensive way to effectively and professionally showcase a model's ability. Composite cards are used on three major levels—they are used by models, agents and the agent's clients.

Production

Currently, models have many different options of creating comp cards. They can ask their photographer, create their own on their computer using today's selection of image editing or graphics software

Graphics software

In computer graphics, graphics software or image editing software is a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate visual images on a computer....

. In addition, with technology's increasingly strong influence in the digital market, many printing companies have looked to the internet to facilitate the ordering process. Comp card printing prices can vary depending on the number of pictures used on the card, the type of paper stock used, and the general printing quality. Different layout styles are available or can be created.