Early May saw Visa unveil its global ‘One Moment Can Change the Game’ France 2019 marketing campaign which focuses on empowerment and acceptance and is based around the meaningful moments women are creating on and off the pitch (from stadiums to start-ups) and how these can influence the next generation.
As the Official Payment Services Partner of FIFA, Visa’s Women’s World Cup work aims to inspire on-field sporting excellence, influence business outcomes in the boardroom and drive economic impact and innovation at home and at work.
The initiative aims to invite the world to celebrate women’s contributions to sport, business and innovation
Launched on 2 May, the campaign opened with a 60-second spearhead spot running on television and amplified across the brand’s digital and social channels
and supported on some of Visa’s player ambassador personal challenges too.
This global campaign, developed in harness with agency Saatchi & Saatchi London, is activated across 33 counties and, as well as the hero commercial airing on television it also feature a set of social spots, as well as additional digital, social, print and out-of-home content.
It also features a series of video vignettes inspired by the true stories of female footballers: these include Team Visa athletes Lucy Bronze (England),
Eugenie Le Sommer (France), Kim Little (Scotland),
Dzsenifer Maroszan (Germany) and Nadia Nadim (Denmark).
While football sits in the background of these spots, each of the films in this series showcase how moments of acceptance and empowerment can have a profound impact on life.
The tournament activation will also see Visa bring a range of payment innovation to France in the form of sensory branding, payment-enabled wristbands, pre-paid cards, a new France 2019 card and a women’s global edition of its Visa Everywhere initiative.
On-site at the tournament Visa aims to enhance the fan experience by providing the latest payment technology at all venues and it has already upgraded 1600 point-of-sale terminals at the nine official venues
All these point-of-sale terminals are enabled with Visa sensory branding: signifying a completed transaction through a custom Visa sound and animation and giving fans the assurance they want every time they use Visa
Visa will also build a network of Visa customer service booths in all official venues
While beyond the pitches and the stadiums, Visa will expand its ongoing Visa Everywhere Initiative: Women’s Global Edition – which began in March 2019 – and will invite female entrepreneurs to tackle FinTech and social impact challenges.
After a series of regional semi-finals around the world, 12 start-ups will take the stage and participate in a final live-pitch event during the opening week of the tournament and the two overall winners will receive $100,000 each, as well as mentorship and access to Visa’s network of partners and clients.
From above-the-line advertising, to payment utilities and from the centre circle and the team warm-ups prior to official matches, to the surrounding areas and supporting events, Visa’ multi-platform activation at this year’s tournament will see it host more than 700 consumers from 28 different countries and more than 65 clients from across Europe and North America.
“Our new campaign features moments of female empowerment and acceptance inspired by true stories from players creating a sense of authenticity,” commented Visa UK and Ireland marketing director Suzy Brown.
“Each of these moments cumulatively ‘change the game’ for good. We want Visa to be a catalyst to create positive change both in women’s football, but also levelling the playing field in other areas. To ensure our partnership with the women’s game isn’t seen as an add-on, it’s vital Visa provides female athletes a platform to tell their stories in order to grow engagement and offer fans a more personal link to the sport. We wanted to give the players a platform and let people get to know them. If you went up to someone in the street – even if they weren’t a football fan – they’d probably be able to name 10 male players off the top of their head, but they might be a little bit stumped if asked to name 10 female players. When people start to engage with players and recognise them, that’s what gets people engaged in the game.”
“It’s an effort the entire company gets behind, continued Visa chief brand and innovation marketing office, Chris Curtin.
“We have a full fledged deployment by Visa behind the Women’s World Cup this summer in France. We are proud sponsors of some of the biggest sports platforms in the world, whether it’s the Olympics or whether it’s FIFA. When we have these events, it’s a complete effort by all parts of the company, not just marketing. We attempt to showcase the best of our brand and the best of our business. And we want to stand for everyone, everywhere and the Women’s World Cup provides a moment to reach a global audience. It’s an assignment we have that we take with great pride and with a lot of honor.”
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 is going to be the biggest women’s sporting event of the year and we are delighted that Visa can join us this summer for what is going to be the best FIFA Women’s World Cup ever,” added FIFA chief women’s football officer Sarai Bareman.
“It is vital for the growth of women’s football that we have partners like Visa heavily involved in our showpiece event, and I am pleased to support the launch of their global campaign that centers on women’s empowerment.”
Comment:
This is easily Visa’s largest ad and on-site investment in women’s football and we admire its commitment to using the tournament as a platform to promote and inspire a range of women’s projects and dreams – not just sporting ones.
We also like they way it shines a spotlight on some of the most interesting stories in women’s soccer.
The ‘One Moment’ idea also cleverly acts as a reflection and a bridge to where women’s football is right now: at a tipping point as it moves into the mass market mainstreams.
Visa is well positioned to champion and leverage this tipping points as it also sponsors the UEFA Women’s League as well as the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
One which promotes a unified marketing message that Visa supports female footballers, entrepreneurs, cardholders, small business owners and athletes and this is underscored by supporting strands that amplify its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Visa has a vast sponsorship portfolio which the brand’s primary activation approach is to use its rights to create and curate exclusive, unforgettable experiences for consumers and clients from around the world.
The objective is to uses these once-in-a-lifetime experiences provide fans, customers, stakeholders and targets with a flavour of the support that Visa provides.
Links:
Visa
https://www.instagram.com/visa
Saatchi & Saatchi
FIFA / France 2019 Women’s World Cup
https://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/
https://www.facebook.com/fifawomensworldcup
https://www.instagram.com/fifaworldcup/
https://www.youtube.com/FIFATV
https://www.weibo.com/FIFAWorldCup?is_hot=1
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