Visa has introduced a new marketing and advertising theme that signals support for payment trends that have expanded during the past year, including digital currencies, alternative payroll and mobile commerce.
The “Meet Visa” initiative is part of the card brand's network of networks strategy, which focuses on diversifying revenue streams through partnerships with fintechs and ancillary services such as new transaction or security software.
The first phase of the brand initiative features two 15-second spots illuminating Visa’s role in supporting global merchant transactions, delivering real time wages for workers and enabling payments in the future via cryptocurrency, Visa said Wednesday.
One example is a dog-walker receiving instant payment for her services on her mobile phone; another spot tracks the sale of a textile item from the purchaser’s mobile phone shopping impulse to the seller receiving a payment notification on a tablet device.
Two longer spots, of 30 seconds and 60 seconds each, show payments in shops around the world with a voice-over explaining that Visa is not just a credit card company, but “a network working for everyone.”
The spots all conclude with the traditional Visa logo and a new closing image featuring short blue and gold stripes on a white background, an abstraction of the blue-and-bold payment card image Visa used in its advertising from 1960 until 1996.
In upcoming months Visa will gradually introduce the “Meet Visa” theme in marketing materials across more than 200 countries and shift its logo to optimize digital experiences in advertising and marketing, the release said.
“With the world reopening and money increasingly moving in new ways, there’s no better time to showcase the work we do and the impact a purpose-driven brand with Visa’s scale can have to enable individuals, businesses and economies to thrive, Lynne Biggar, Visa’s executive vice president and global chief marketing officer, said in a press release.
Visa most recently has used “Everywhere you want to be” as its brand slogan, a slight edit of the iconic theme the card network ran from 1985 to 2006. From 2009 to 2014 Visa’s slogan was “More people go with Visa.”
The card network signaled changes were coming about a year ago when it released an RFP for a new advertising agency.
In December 2020 Visa awarded Portland, Oregon-based ad agency Wieden+Kennedy—Nike’s longtime ad agency of record—its creative account, replacing New York-based BBDO. Publicis Groupe handles global media and some local marketing.
