Check Out The Priceless Digital Marketing Strategies of Mastercard

Instead of creating campaigns, we want to sustain momentum around moments of truth.
Jay Mendel – Global Digital Marketing VP, Mastercard

This is how Mastercard approaches engagement with an audience that’s millions-strong, according to Jay Mandel, MasterCard’s VP of Global Digital Marketing.

Mastercard’s global marketing campaigns, are not matter of throwing ideas into a campaign brief; thus they’re far more scientific. The marketing team starts by looking for what Mandel calls a moment of truth — an insight drawn from observant analysis, that then translates into the creative seed for a campaign, and a larger, relatable message for the brand. 

To execute this vision, the brand constructed the organizational structure to carry these moments from ideation through to production and distribution of the finished product. They have taken the best of every marketing discipline and put it in a centralized content marketing strategy group. Consumer and digital marketers, media professionals, and communications strategists have thrown their hat into the ring for what is no doubt an eclectic group of creatives.

Let’s have a quick look at what the b-Mastercard developed in recent years.

---

• Willing to Change in Radical

To keep up with the digital world, Mastercard is removing their name from the logo as part of a “reinvention” of the brand.

As a company following the digital updates so well that they even adapt the biometric fingeprint verification, Mastercard evolves their logo. The company revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show that it would drop the “Mastercard” name below the red and yellow interlocking circls in “select contexts”, such as at digital and physical retail locations and major sponsorship properties. However, the overlapping circles will add it to a growing list of brands identified by a symbol.

Here’s Mastercard’s complete logo evolution:

Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communication officer at Mastercard, said,

With more than 80% of people spontaneously recognising the Mastercard symbol without the word ‘Mastercard’, we felt ready to take this next step in our brand evolution.

---

• Provide the Latest Technology Because of the Brand Presence

Mastercard has unveiled biometric cards that contain both Chip and Pin technology, as well as, biometric sensors. The test has launched only in South Africa at present.

After smartphones, buildings, airports, -and FBI-  the next step is to let finance industries adopt fingerprint verification to increase user security. As a part of a limited trial in South Africa, Mastercard has announced launching a credit card with a fingerprint scanner.

The card has a small square which scans the fingerprint on the top-right corner. Mastercard states that the card can make scans on Apple and Android devices that allow contactless payments once a device stores the print recognition.

---

• Open to New Tactics Like Sound Marketing

After the Mastercard has introduced its sonic brand identity, a comprehensive sound architecture that signifies the latest advancement for the brand.

After the brand’s introduction of the nameless, icon-only logo, they stepped into sound-centric branding alteration. Wherever consumers engage with Mastercard across the globe – be it physical, digital or voice environments – the distinct and memorable Mastercard melody will provide simple, seamless familiarity. To kickstart its audio presence, Mastercard launched a new marketing campaign in advance of the American Grammy Awards featuring nominated artist, Camila Cabello.

Rajamannar added,

Sound adds a powerful new dimension to our brand identity and a critical component to how people Mastercard today and in the future. We set out an ambitious goal to produce the Mastercard melody in a way that’s distinct and authentic, yet adaptable globally and across genres. It is important our sonic brand not only reinforces our presence, but also resonates seamlessly around the world.

---

• Reaching Luxury Segmentation via Different Approacahes, Such as Culinary Industry

Priceless – an international culinary collective which brings the world’s finest dining and experiences New York City

Mastercard is preparing to revive all five senses with an ambitious installation that brings three distinctive restaurants from around the world to New York City. The iteration of the long-running “Priceless” campaign establishes what the brand calls “an international culinary collective,” recreating in immaculate detail and the experience of visiting restaurants that had offered a singular dining experience.

The first three culinary destinations to take up residency at PRICELESS include The Rock from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Teruzushi from Kitakyushu, Japan and Lyaness from London, United Kingdom. The PRICELESS rooftop at Spring will also host a global food experience expertly curated by Chef JJ Johnson.

---

• Supports Gender Diversity

Christopher and Gay Streets’ corner at New York’s Greenwich Village, passersby will see a host of new names for the latter road thanks to Mastercard.

For Pride month, Mastercard has placed on nine street names in an effort to be more inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community. Titled “Acceptance Street,” rainbow installation is placed as a partnership between Mastercard and New York’s Human Rights Commission, that helped sanction the signs.

Mastercard’s “True Name” project purposes to find a secure, non-invasive way to let people choose names other than their legal ones to appear on credit and debit cards, and it is currently working with the city’s Human Rights Commission to figure out the details.

---

To see more, you can view more Mastercard campaigns, here.