13/02/2017

Mastercard’s Grammys #ThankTheFans Spans Ads, Vinyl Store Experiences & Live In-Show Offers

Mastercard used its sponsorship of the 2017 Grammy Awards to push its digital wallet service Masterpass with an interactive, experiential and real-time offer campaign called #ThankTheFans.

 

Ahead of the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Mastercard heavily trailed its multi-channel #ThankTheFans partnership initiative with a campaign spot airing on 6 February

 

 

as well as digital and social content pieces channelling people to the digital campaign hub at masterpass.com/GRAMMYs.

 

 

To build excitement ahead of the awards ceremony itself, the physical centrepiece of the initiative saw Mastercard create #ThankTheFans House: a vinyl record store in Grammys host city Los Angeles offering interactive music experiences and brining fans together to experience what they love most about music.

 

The payments card giant transformed Gibson Brands Sunset into an experiential record store where Masterpass users were offered exclusive access to shop for rare and unique vinyl for just $10.

 

All proceeds from the vinyl record sales were donated to MusiCares; a program run by the Grammys and the Recording Academy that offers critical assistance for music people in their times of need.

 

Visiting shoppers could also plays records on the turntables, use the range of Gibson guitars, walk into a recording booth and lay down a track or just sit in one of the ‘Vinyl Me, Please’ curated listening stations with friends and enjoy intimate evening performances (on 9 to 11 February).

 

Plus, the finance brand also continued to run its ongoing, global ‘Priceless Surprise’ rewards program for a few lucky customers.

 

 

 

 

While finally, on Grammy’s night itself, a real-time activation strand saw the brand offer Masterpass digital wallet holders able to unlock special offers – from music and movie tickets, to designer fashions and even a VIP trip to the 2018 Grammys – for $1.

 

During the awards show live telecast, whenever a Grammy winner expressed some form of fan gratitude during their speech, Masterpass users were also able to unlock these offers.

 

This offer was amplified digitally and socially and viewers were encouraged and incentivised to sign up for Masterpass in-show,

 

 

 

thus unlocking bonuses.

 

 

 

 

To engaged during the telecast Mastercard focused on social media in general and Twitter in particular – as 81% of Twitter users are on the platform while watching award shows.

 

Mastercard also used Facebook and Instagram stories to connect influencers with Masterpass signups.

 

‘We’ll also use Snapchat as an influencer tool for its intimate storytelling capabilities and personal point of view,’ explains Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard

 

‘Music is a passion that transcends geographic and demographic boundaries and Mastercard wants to celebrate the music fan in all of us by delivering something truly unique with #ThankTheFans. ‘The Grammys is the first place you’ll see us deliver this platform as we set out to thank fans across their passions, celebrating the events and experiences that bring us together,’ continues Rajamanner.

 

‘We’ve been fortunate to partner with The Recording Academy as sponsor of the Grammy Awards for nine years now and thought it the perfect venue to introduce #ThankTheFans.’

 

Activative Comment:

 

This year’s Grammys saw some technical and performance glitches – from Lady Gaga and Metallica’s microphone failure and Adele starting her George Michael tribute again after opening off-key – and MasterCard’s own live social coverage of the show noted the errors.

 

 

But the brand spoke socially far too soon as stage wasn’t the only [place for tech failures. It turned out demand was so high that the initiative had to be suspended on the night

 

 

 

It’s been quite a week for blockbuster event related marketing digital overload: in the Super Bowl 84 Lumber’s attempt to drive football fans online to see the rest of its Big Game (banned ad) ended up in crashing its own website (see case study).

 

It’s worth repeating over and over again: technology offers brilliant communication and engagement platforms, but be prepared!

 

Digital overloads aside, this on-trend activation idea leverages the current vinyl sales revival as old school record sales hit highs they haven’t seen in years – with Masterpass helping to connect music fans with a bevy of beloved discs.

 

Mastercard knows consumers are more connected than ever to their digital devices and to each other, that they are moving faster than before across multiple devices/channels and their attention span is becoming shorter.

 

Thus, they are less willing and less likely to waste even a couple of moment of time on what they think will be content irrelevant to them.

 

Thus, real-time engaging experiences that are genuine consumer benefits are becoming increasingly key.

 

Mastercard also understands that consumers are shifting spend away from material things and towards experiences and it is vital for brands that can to deliver both experiential physical and digital experiences rather than things or possessions.

 

‘This isn’t a fad: it’s a deep, human truth that first struck a chord with consumers two decades ago, and today has become even more relevant,’ argues Rajamannar.

 

‘When we considered all of this cultural change, and the increasing importance of experiences, we realized that Priceless is an idea that cannot and should not be contained in traditional advertising. We need to go way beyond showing priceless experiences in commercials – we need to give our cardholders the tools to create their own.’

 

‘Our goal is to create an emotional bond with consumers and to deliver to them one-of-a-kind experiences they can only get with Mastercard.’

 

We also think this is a fine example of a sponsor combining property-related product advertising, participatory experiences, real-time event marketing and financial benefits.

 

It neatly spans traditional advertising with new technology platforms and blends physical and digital experiences that all tie into the property ahead of time and during the live event itself.

 

It builds on Mastercard’s impressive music activation heritage: which includes 2016’s ‘Rock The Red Carpet’ (see case study), as well as its 2016 BRIT Awards activation (see case study).

 

Links:

 

MasterCard

https://www.youtube.com/user/MasterCard

https://www.facebook.com/Mastercard

https://twitter.com/mastercard

https://www.mastercard.com

https://www.instagram.com/mastercard/



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