A blog about Marketing from a Girl's perspective

The Priceless Plastic Which Has Emotions Too!!

@Marketers There are some things money can't buy such as emotions, love and trust. You can paint the whole city with logos and taglines but you cannot force a relationship with your customers or trespass  their memory cells. One thing that differentiates humans from all other species is emotions. We love, we trust and we care about other humans, species and the entire creation. The human brain is wired to think and rationalize logic but when in flux we tend to get swayed by emotions.

In the early 1960s humans were introduced to a new form of plastic which was neither 'made in China' nor was meant to 'use and throw'. The credit/debit cards were officially born. We were supposed to trust this plastic over our beloved cash. This required a huge behavioral change in the way we traditionally carried monetary transactions. So, the challenge was to make the plastic trustworthy, believable and lovable.

One of the leading network providers of plastic cards is MasterCard which successfully entered into relationship with over 2.5 Mn people across 112 countries and 53 languages with the launch of its Priceless campaign in 1997.  Here's a preview of the first commercial - 

Deciphering behavioral cues of MasterCard logo: The MasterCard logo uses two primary colors – red and ochre. The red color represents vitality, while ochre color stands for happiness, richness and prosperity.

After the successful launch of its first commercial, MasterCard has continuously worked to create campaigns that resonate with its customers and reinforce their loyalty and trust in the MasterCard name. The campaign had a significant impact on how consumers view the brand. In 2008, MasterCard ranked as No. 99 on BrandZ's list of the 100 most valuable brands with a brand value of $7 billion.*

Today, technology lies at the center of our world. With 'worldwideweb', we have access to immense amount of information and with smart phones we have the capability to multi-task while on the go.  Civilizations are not cultivated around rivers, farms, gold souks or industries any more. With social networking platforms we are creating communities and tribes of people brought together by similar interests and activities.

MasterCard had to evolve its campaign to stay relevant to its customers in the present digital world. Mr. Gangotena, current Chief Marketing Officer of MasterCard says, "The world is changing. It is a different place. Today, we have a new campaign that takes you from observing priceless moments to enabling priceless moments." So, the new campaign is dubbed as 'Priceless Cities' which is one-of-a-kind-experiential website www.priceless.com that connects people to their passions, whether that's shopping, dining, sports, travel, theater or music right in their local cities.

The campaign had several executions starting with New York. As part of the campaign launch, Mastercard partnered with R/GA and Facebook to announce  "Check In to the Ballgame" challenge at a special interactive event in Times Square. Customers were asked to find 20 decommissioned Yankee stadium seats hidden around the city restaurants, shops and landmark public locations. Those who find the chairs and check in will win special prizes, including VIP tickets, meet-and-greets with Yankee greats etc. The campaign was an instant hit and created over 55 Mn impressions. Check out the video:

MasterCard is using the new website to encourage card holders to share their tweets, Facebook pictures and YouTube videos from the events. Experience possibilities include setting up camp at the Bronx Zoo for an overnight adventure, reserve VIP tickets for Blue Man Group show , or dining at the famed Red Rooster restaurant with a VIP experience designed by owner and chef, Marcus Samuelsson.

MasterCard's priceless website instantly strikes an emotional chord with its customers by  offering an exclusive access to a luxurious lifestyle. The website serves as an intermediary genie between their surreal wish list and priceless experiences. So, instead of concentrating on volume of transactions MasterCard chooses to stay close to its customers and enable them to buy good things for good reasons. Complex financial jargons such as interest rates are replaced with our passions and annoying terms and conditions are replaced with pictures of friends and family experiencing priceless moments. And the final appeal comes as 'There are some things money can't buy but for all other things there is MasterCard.'

The future of marketing is headed towards mobile. Mobile web surfing will be replaced by mobile apps. Just like social security number centralizes an individual's information under one unique number similarly mobile apps will be the central ledger account of an Individual's transactions. MasterPass, a mobile payment system is already a step towards that trend. In future, I visualize a 'Saving Priceless Lives' app which will celebrate MasterCard's belief: 'Our cardholders are good people who want to buy good things for good reason'. ''Saving Priceless Lives' initiative will support non-profits working towards saving priceless lives of people struggling with life threatening diseases. MasterCard will match the difference to the nearest dime rounding up every cashless transaction and cardholders will have the option to sync their monthly penny savings towards a good cause.  

Sixteen years old and still going strong. In 2012, MasterCard was #2 payment system in the U.S., ranked No. 29 and valued at $20.8 billion while Visa ranked No. 15 valued at $38.2 Bn.* Surpassing visa in market share based on volume of transactions alone is going to be challenging. But an initiative like ''Saving Priceless Lives' will further boost MasterCard's goodwill, increase customer base, strengthen their loyalty and trust in the MasterCard brand. MasterCard is a pioneer in enabling people to experience priceless moments. This initiative will enable people to lead a lifestyle with good conscience and in the long run will create a strong brand equity for MasterCard. Now wouldn't that be priceless!!

Source:

* http://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz/Top_100_Global_Brands.aspx
   https://www.priceless.com
  http://adage.com/article/special-report-ana-ana-annual-meeting-2012/mastercard-s-priceless-evolution/237706
  http://mashable.com/2013/02/20/web-design-human-behavior/
  http://www.mastercardbrandcenter.com/us/index.html

Image in the header is a Bella Pillar creation