MasterCard

Case Study
 The context

 MasterCard was perceived as an

everyday, ordinary credit card

 It had no emotional connect with

consumers
 Viewed as ‘the other card’ kept behind Visa &
Amex

 As a result, it was quickly losing share of

use and leverage with bank issuers
 The challenge

Increase MasterCard usage

by making people feel good about using
the card
 The brand footprint

 MasterCard Brand Footprint process

revealed:
 MasterCard’s prime competitors, Amex &
Visa, clearly rest in the brand space of outer-
directed, success-focused values

 MasterCard brand space, however, was

rooted in the everyday realities of the
lives of most people
 Amex brand footprint

Amex Means
 Membership
 The Business Life
 The Charge Card

Amex Is
 Professional
 Worldly
 Responsible
 Visa brand footprint

Visa Means
 Everywhere
 The High Life
 The Credit Card

Visa Is
 Sociable
 Stylish
 On The Go
 MasterCard brand footprint

MasterCard Means
 Everyday
 Ordinary life
 The genuine card

MasterCard Is
 Unassuming
 Unpretentious
 Practical
 Therefore…

 MasterCard Brand Footprint presented

both an opportunity and a challenge.

 MasterCard had a deeply rooted brand

essence that was clearly differentiating.

 However, it lacked aspirational qualities

and an emotional relevancy with
consumers
The Selling Strategy
 Brand objective

To move MasterCard
from an emotionally neutral generic card
to ‘the card I feel good about using’
 The conceptual target: context

 Credit card consumption values were

changing
 Consumers were beginning to view credit
card purchases as a means to things that
enrich their everyday lives
 MasterCard’s core brand values were
closer to the new credit card
consumption ideals than Visa / Amex
 Which were associated with ‘high life’ or
 The conceptual target

 Another key learning was that consumers

feel surprisingly good about themselves
as responsible users of credit cards

 We dubbed their emerging mindset Good

Revolving and called the conceptual
target ‘Good Revolvers’
 Key insight

While the core desire of Visa & Amex

cardholders may be to lead rich
lifestyles…

Good Revolvers core desire is to lead

rich lives!
Role of the brand

To enable Good Revolvers

to lead rich lives
by providing complete and confident
access
to the things they value the most
 The compelling truth

MasterCard provides
complete and confident access
to the things Good Revolvers value most
because they are on the forefront
of providing consumers with new, better,
more convenient ways to pay for goods
and services
 New MasterCard brand footprint

MasterCard Means
 Everything that counts
 Real Life
 The Best Way to Pay

MasterCard Is
 Purposeful
 Genuine
 Resourceful
 The selling idea

‘The best way to pay for everything

that matters’
 The creative idea

 The Selling Idea evolved into the

‘Priceless’ campaign with the signature
line:
 There are some thins money can’t buy. For
everything else there’s MasterCard
 Adworks

 Adworks validated effectiveness of approach:

 In both communicating the strategic intent and
consumer likeability (emotional response)
 Results

 Rated the “Best New Campaign” of 1997 by

Frohlinger’s Marketing Report

 Member banks have embraced the campaign

 Campaign has created a buzz for MasterCard

 Jay Leno parodied campaign on Tonight show for 3
consecutive nights

 Successful increase in bank mail share since the

launch of the campaign