MasterCard has named Montreal as its second priceless city in Canada, joining Toronto in the ranks.
The Priceless Cities program gives MasterCard cardholders a variety of discounts in stores, restaurants, hotel upgrades, sports events and more at Priceless.com’s categories of eat, play, shop and stay.
Montreal is now MasterCard’s 43rd priceless city in the world, while Toronto was one of three cities chosen for the program’s global launch in 2011, along with New York and London.
“Our cardholders travel internationally, so it was very important to us that our program was able to unlock experiences and content that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise,” says Milos Vranesevic, vice-president and head of marketing at MasterCard Canada.
In a first for the program, MasterCard has partnered with National Bank of Canada to bring Montreal into the Priceless Cities program. The partnership will provide exclusive content for National Bank MasterCard cardholders, beyond what is available to other MasterCard members.
Vranesevic says it was a natural to bring Montreal into the Priceless Cities program, given its position as a top ten travel destination in North America, according to MasterCard’s Global Destination Cities Index.
While Canadian cities like Vancouver, Calgary or Quebec City have yet to be deemed Priceless Cities by MasterCard, “that’s not to say they won’t be there in the future,” he says.
Montreal’s membership in Priceless Cities and the National Bank partnership received their official launch during the holiday season at the Grand Marché de Noël de Montréal, a first of its kind Christmas market held during the holidays in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles.
Among the activations at the event, people who purchased items using their National Bank MasterCard received surprises like full purchase refunds or gift cards.
National Bank is also planning a large social media campaign this year to promote its involvement with Montreal.
“MasterCard and National Bank have extensive digital and direct mail marketing channel support going out to let cardholders know about the opportunities with Priceless Montreal, to make sure that we’re driving engagement,” Vranesevic says.
Meanwhile, he says Toronto is in the top ten of Priceless Cities in terms of overall performance metrics. “We look at everything from standard metrics, such as site traffic and page views, right down to what we call offer referrals – people actually downloading the content or setting the booking reservation.”
Priceless Cities is part of MasterCard’s 18 year-old Priceless marketing platform. Ketchum handles PR for MasterCard Canada.
