New campaign tries to steal share from Visa’s grasp
It has outlived the slogans of other global brands such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. Now, MasterCard’s 14-year-old “Priceless” positioning is serving as the springboard for yet another global marketing venture.
MasterCard Canada last week unveiled “Priceless Toronto,” part of a worldwide initiative called “Priceless Cities” that debuted in New York in July and expanded to London in October.
The program aims to give MasterCard users “priceless” experiences that are endemic to that market. The offers encompass six segments: culinary, sports, music and entertainment, shopping, travel, and arts and culture.
Lilian Tomovich, head of marketing for MasterCard Canada in Toronto, called the program the next “large-scale evolution” of the “Priceless” campaign, which is used in 110 countries and has spawned countless parodies.
“Priceless has been built on a foundation of observing priceless moments. We’ve been the conduit for people enjoying those moments, and now what we’re doing is moving to enable them,” said Tomovich.
The program launched with a giant MasterCard-branded vault featuring a countdown clock in Maple Leaf Square. A wild posting, Facebook and Twitter campaign utilizing the hashtag #unlockTO is driving people to the site, where on Monday the first 400 people to arrive at noon received a key to unlock a safety deposit box inside the vault that contains a “priceless” Toronto experience.
The campaign will also be supported by what Tomovich characterized as “significant” out-of-home and digital support. Developed by MacLaren McCann, one creative execution for the campaign features a line drawing of a key with the teeth drawn to resemble the city’s skyline. All of the creative drives to MasterCard.ca/PricelessToronto.
Other creative was supplied by MasterCard’s global digital agency, R/GA, while The Armstrong Partnership provided merchant relationships and consumer registration and Environics Communications provided media outreach. Media support for the program was provided by UM Canada.
Tomovich said the campaign objective is to simply drive awareness of the MasterCard brand. Until recently, many of Canada’s banks had exclusive agreements with Visa, but following a 2008 ruling by the Competition Bureau introducing so-called credit card duality, RBC and CIBC both now offer MasterCard products.
“We’re aggressively moving to not only steal share, but gain share and really move in the marketplace,” said Tomovich. “This whole notion of really trying to drive preference and being more focused on the end consumer is really important for us in terms of aggressive growth in the next two to five years.”
Does MasterCard have what it takes to put a dent in Visa’s marketshare? Does “Priceless” still have life in it? Post your thoughts in our comment section.
