Field Goals
Visa’s fall NFL promotion ties the game to shoppers and member banks.
It’s still spring, but Visa USA marketers already have pigskin on the brain.
The San Francisco-based credit card giant is putting the final touches on the first NFL promotion for the upcoming season, a national effort boasting a consumer sweeps, direct mail, and a customized marketing blueprint member banks can leverage locally.
A charge-and-win sweeps breaks Sept. 1 and runs through the end of October. Cardholders gain entries whenever they charge. Seventy-five winners are reimbursed for all charges made during the two-month promotional window. “This is one of the top-rated promotion concepts we’ve ever tested,” says Visa senior vp-marketing services Bob Pifke. “The prize is appropriate for anyone, so it gets both fans and non-fans to participate.”
P-O-P will feature NFL stars Brett Favre, Emmitt Smith, and Jerome Bettis. Collateral hits retail and banks in late August, as does a massive direct-mail drop via member bill statements. Muhlman Marketing, Charlotte, NC, handles.
Member banks can ensure that some of their customers walk away winners by buying into Visa’s guaranteed winner program, which pulls a name from that bank’s customer base or adds Super Bowl trips to the branch’s prize pool. All banks can customize P-O-P for local relevance — a Dallas bank can, for example, opt to hang signs bearing Smith’s mug instead of Favre’s.
Go team.
