Visa Searches For Mobile Marketing's Secret Ingredient

Visa is running a pair of mobile pilots in San Francisco with digital marketing group AKQA, targeting high-spending, tech-savvy foodies at supermarkets and restaurants, according to Adweek. The first started at the beginning of the month at 19 Safeway and eight Mollie Stone’s stores: Visa sends users suggestions for food and wine pairings when they text Visa after seeing prompts near shelf displays. The second, due to launch later this month, will let people text Visa to receive pre-recorded voice messages from chefs at various restaurants talking through their dishes of the day.

Visa wants the service to help build awareness of its Signature brand, which is aimed at affluent customers. But what is interesting about these projects is that it potentially puts the credit card giant right into the middle of the mobile advertising value chain for other brands — be it the wines and foods Visa selects to promote at the supermarket, or the restaurants for which it provides chef’s tasting notes for the day. It is not clear whether Visa is planning to pick up the tab that users might incur for using messaging services if they’re not on all-you-can-eat data plans.

Visa is clearly interested in trying to figure out how to exploit mobile to promote itself. With AKQA alone it has several projects on the boil, including a recent deal to sponsor Zagat’s mobile site. But it’s not expecting major windfalls from any of them just yet. Jon Raj, vp of advertising and emerging media platforms at Visa, speaking to Adweek: “Right now [mobile is] in the learning stage. I like to think every campaign we’re working on in the digital space can have a mobile aspect to it.”

The companies have not said how much money is being invested in the services.

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