Visa may be a longtime Olympic sponsor—19 years and counting, at least through 2012—but its promotions carry a high-tech edge this time around. Visa USA is hosting blogs from Olympic and Paralympic athletes as part of its estimated $100 million-to-$150 million Olympics campaign, themed “The Journey.” The global campaign has been showcasing the personal stories of 15 athletes since it broke in May 2005.
“It’s very emotional, the kind of human-interest piece that can really engage people,” Susanne Lyons, Visa USA’s chief marketing officer, told PROMO (November PROMO).
The blogs, which launched without ad support, averaged 300 visitors a day early on; that grew to about 1,000 visitors a day in January.
A cause-marketing overlay offers fans an Olympics pin for every dollar they donate to the U.S. Olympic Committee through Visa, which matches consumer donations (up to $2 million). Arc Worldwide handles.
Meanwhile, Visa International is hosting online gaming competitions awarding trips to the Games in Torino this month, and Bejing in 2012.
The Visa Championships–Torino 2006 game lets players from 23 countries (including the U.S.) compete in three virtual sports: bobsledding, giant slalom skiing and snowboarding. Gamers registered, then posted their best scores by Dec. 15; the top player from each country won a trip for two to The Games—and compete on Feb. 15 to crown the “global champion,” who wins a trip for two to Bejing. The month-long promo pulled in nearly 100,000 registrants worldwide.
Visa puts the games back online Feb. 10-26 for consumers worldwide to play but not, alas, compete for prizes. NBC also pitches in, posting the game on NBCOlympics.com for Visa.
Visa has 205 member banks and 3,401 merchants participating in its Olympics campaign, an impressive encore to the 2004 Games in Athens, with 212 member banks and 1,900 merchants. Visa has distributed 63.4 million pieces of direct mail to cardholders, and 500,000 pieces of P-O-P to member banks and merchants.
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