As the peak travel season gets underway, Visa is working to show that it should be traveler’s preferred payment method.
Visa has introduced a new tool on its Facebook page called Memory Mapper, the free app uses Google Maps satellite technology and cardholders’ own photos, videos, captions and selected music to produce a unique, visual keepsake of their travels. The promotion calls for users to, not only use the tool to create a keepsakes for themselves, but to spread word about the tool virally by sharing the keepsake with family and friends.
National television and digital advertising showcase one family’s dream vacation in Tahiti to show how the Memory Mapper works. The Igloi family of four is seen surfing the beaches of their home state of California before traveling to Teahupoo, Tahiti, on a vacation they have dreamed of. The commercial shows how the Memory Mapper uses satellite map views of the locations the Igloi’s travel, combined with family photos and videos and then overlaid with music the family selected.
“What’s interesting about the social space is that you can measure the different elements of performance, not only from an impression, but also from paid media and now earned media, or the sharing of what people are doing with their friends,” Alex Craddock, head of North America Marketing for Visa Inc., said. “When you look at that as a success metric, you get a good sense of how the social space can be for you. There is so much data there, and with the triangulation of these findings you actually can be very well informed about how a campaign is forming in real time.”
Supporting the Memory Mapper promotion is the “Trip of a Lifetime” sweepstakes at a Visa Facebook page, which encourages new card applications while rewarding current cardholders with a chance to win $100,000 toward a dream vacation. It began April 27 and runs through Oct. 31 before a winner is announced around Nov. 14. The TV spots highlight sweepstakes and encourage viewers to visit to visit the Facebook page.
Over the last 12 to 18 months, Visa has placed more emphasis on using social media as a marketing platform with the Memory Mapper building on those experiences.
“It’s an extension of the great experience we’ve had in the social marketing over the last year,” Craddock said.
2010 marked Visa’s major push into social media.
In one major promotion, activated under its sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, football fans worldwide were asked to shout out their best “Goooal!” in support of their teams via videos that were posted on the Visa YouTube channel. The videos received 7.5 million views, Craddock said. It also looked to maximize its partnership with the World Cup by launching a social media app that lets fans customize match viewing schedules and other options.
Under it’s sponsorship of the Olympics, short films of Visa sponsored athletes were posted to Facebook and received a “great level of engagement and a was a great example of social as part of a larger campaign. The level of engagement that we saw around the Facebook page was huge,” he said. And in a bid to expand its overall Olympic Games marketing as excitement was building in anticipation of the opening of The Games, Visa has launched a major media event in New York's Grand Central Terminal and ramped up social networking efforts.
Social, including twitter, also played an important role in Visa’s work with the National Football League and this year’s Super Bow.
Last July, Chase Card Services and the InterContinental Hotels Group have taken direct feedback from their frequent travelers and used that information to design a new credit card product, the Priority Club Select Visa Card. The feedback came through a private online community comprised of about 300 Priority Club Rewards members who are also Priority Club Rewards Visa card members.
Network
