In order to remain the world's leading payment card and system, Visa
needed to gain broad acceptance and use of its smart card technology
platform, the Visa Open Platform®, amongst issuing banks and application
developers worldwide.
Research and Strategy:
Visa
had long been the leader in the global card payments arena,
but that position was now being threatened as the industry began
its inevitable migration to more powerful chip-based smart cards.
Visa's
main competitor, MasterCard, was backing a competing smart card
platform, Mondex/MULTOS. This technology had already gained
traction with issuing banks, mainly because it was first to
market, and was viewed as easier and cheaper to implement.
With
no exaggeration, Visa and MasterCard's future leadership positions
hinged on the choice of these smart card platforms. If the Mondex/MULTOS
platform won out, Visa could well lose marketshare, as well
as billions of dollars in annual card payment revenues. This
could potentially signal the end of Visa's global market leadership.
Visa's
Open Platform enjoyed a slight advantage because of the popularity
of the Java language, on which it was based. Visa had also attracted
greater interest from application providers, developers and
strategic technology partners, who would be critical to enhance
the platform's value proposition for consumers and card issuers.
Research
found that Visa had other strong advantages, including:
Successful completion of Open Platform pilot programs
More Visa Open Platform cards actually issued worldwide
Strong reviews by key industry analysts
Visa's reputation for technology and product innovation
Solution:
Create a global integrated marketing program to promote the essential
"openness" and flexibility of Visa's smart card solution, emphasizing
how it was better positioned to help issuers accelerate their adoption
of business-building smart card programs worldwide.
Implementation:
Encouraged
industry analysts in Europe, Asia and the U.S. to carefully
compare the Visa Open Platform with MasterCard's solution; we
were confident that Visa's platform would prevail under such
in-depth scrutiny, which it did
Conducted
"Visa Future of Money" media/analyst events in London and New
York; each event attracted more than 100 leading technology/business/financial
media and analysts. Collectively, the two events generated nearly
200 million media impressions about Visa's Open Platform solution
Implemented
Open Platform direct mail program to all 21,000 Visa issuers
worldwide; created Open Platform monthly newsletter
Created
and launched Visa Open Platform Web site for issuers, developers,
technology partners and media/analysts; the site became a critical,
interactive vehicle to communicate regularly with key Open Platform
stakeholders
Conducted
joint PR activities with Sun and its Java Group, and with other
technology partners, such as Gemplus (smart card developer)
and telecom companies that would ultimately use the platform
for payment applications on cell phones
Launched
a worldwide developer communications program, including developer
seminars at major conferences in London, Paris and Orlando,
and a joint conference during Sun's Java trade show
Full
page ads in influential trade publications
Ongoing
media outreach campaigns worldwide
Results:
Visa
succeeded in encouraging key industry opinion formers (media,
analysts, consultants) to "question" the sustainability of MasterCard's
smart card solution because of its closed architecture (as opposed
to Visa's "open" system)
Industry
analysts published several reports, outlining the inherent benefits
to issuers and consumers of Visa's Open Platform
Major
issuers in each of Visa's six global regions decided to license
the Open Platform instead of MasterCard's Mondex/MULTOS offering
Significant
positive coverage that emphasized all key messages, including
prominent stories in leading business, technology and industry
trade media worldwide
Because
of the growing issuer acceptance of Visa's Open Platform, MasterCard
recently - and reluctantly - agreed to offer it to their issuing
banks
By
creating strong demand for, and adoption of, the Open Platform,
Visa solidified its leadership position, particularly as the
global card payment industry migrates from traditional magnetic
stripe technology to chip-based smart cards
