Discover’s latest ad campaign featuring actress Jennifer Coolidge challenges the perception that its card is not readily accepted at merchants across the U.S. With the help of Coolidge’s broad comedic appeal and recent Nilson data, which claims Discover can be used 99% of places that take cards nationwide, the brand hopes to dispel the myth once and for all.
“If you’re our customer, you know that you can use it with confidence pretty much anywhere you want to use your card,” said Discover SVP and CMO Jen Murillo. “If you’re not our customer, though, you may not know that. And that misperception about how widely Discover cards are accepted is something that we really wanted to tackle.”
We spoke with Murillo about the next phase of Discover’s “Especially for Everyone” campaign platform, how the brand is marketing the message to consumers and its localized OOH campaign supporting the broader effort.
Chief Marketer: The last time we spoke, you had tapped Jennifer Coolidge for a campaign focused on Discover’s customer service. What was the insight and inspiration behind the newest spot with her?
Jen Murillo, SVP and CMO at Discover Financial Services: The first time that we talked, which was a year ago, we had launched a new campaign that we call internally “Especially for Everyone.” And that was grounded on this insight: We’ve long known about how much our customers love the product and the relationship that they have with Discover. The product that we focused on at the time was Cashback Debit, which was a new debit product that offers cashback on debit purchases. It was part of this bigger idea of Discover treating all of its customers like they’re VIPs. And that idea has held over time.
With this new advertising, the idea is to talk about Discover’s acceptance—where we’re accepted for payment. And the reason we’re talking about acceptance is, Discover is well-known for excellent customer service, for excellent rewards. And if you’re our customer, you know that you can use it with confidence pretty much anywhere you want to use your card. If you’re not our customer, though, you may not know that. And that misperception about how widely Discover cards are accepted is something that we really wanted to tackle. The reality is, our acceptance is very strong. You can use it just about every place you’d want to use it. In fact, the data supports that were accepted at 99% of the places that take cards. And so this is our chance to set that record straight.
CM: Why do you think the idea persists that Discover is less accepted than other cards?
JM: I think it just persists with people who aren’t already our customer. It’s an old perception. If you go back to when we started this company in the 1980s, we built our own proprietary network. And so as that was built over time, the acceptance and that experience improved over time. But some of that legacy from way back in the beginning [persists]. People may not understand what the reality is today.
CM: What are the marketing goals for this?
JM: We look at a lot of measures. We see this as fitting into the groundwork we’ve already laid with the other messages we’ve put out there. But we’ll certainly look at: is the message breaking through? Are people recognizing it? Do they know who it’s from? Do they understand what we’re talking about? Is it motivating to them? Is it changing minds?
CM: How are you marketing this beyond a commercial? What is the media mix for this campaign?
JM: The message is going to be out there in video, on linear as well as all forms of digital video. It’ll be out there in digital and terrestrial radio, all forms of digital, social, and then also outdoor. The messages that include video and audio include Jennifer Coolidge. She’s been a fantastic partner as we’ve been telling our story over the last year. But some of the messages don’t include Jennifer, particularly our out-of-home message, which has a lot of fun with talking about things that are well accepted and things that are not. And a lot of those are things that are socially acceptable—or not. There are literally going to be hundreds of different copy lines in different locations around the country.
CM: In what ways are the OOH ads localized to different markets?
JM: There are certain things that are very unique to a particular market. For example, there is an out-of-home billboard that talks about how Discover is accepted 99% of places and that it’s also acceptable to save your parking spot with a lawn chair—which is very much a Chicago thing. If you’re from Chicago, that’s something you identify with, especially as we’re headed into the colder season. There’s also unique lines about different preferences for pizza in different markets, and things that are specific to the culture in New York, Los Angeles, D.C. and some of the other markets we’re going to be showing up in. And some of it is place-based, too. The ads might be in conjunction with a gym or a certain type of payment opportunity, and so it’ll speak to that moment of relevance.
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