SAN FRANCISCO–Anyone who has seen advertisements from
The payments company's long-running "Visa: It's Everywhere You Want to Be" campaign has encouraged consumers to spring for that ski trip, for example, or a new dining-room set, but the new message is aimed at redefining Visa as a facilitator of global commerce, and to distance itself from banks.
One television spot explains how Nebraska's shift to Visa prepaid cards for child-support payments is saving the state more than $350,000 a year, and helping recipients get their money quicker. Another ad shows how Visa debit cards have helped move millions of unbanked consumers in India into the banking mainstream.
The shift in strategy is an attempt by Visa to set itself apart from the banking industry, which, over the past 18 months, has lost much of its credibility — with both consumers and policymakers. Though its name is branded on more than one-billion credit and debit cards, Visa points out on the campaign's website, currencyofprogress.com, that it "is not a bank, and doesn't issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers."
"We want to recast the perception of Visa as a company that is not part of the problem, but part of the solution," said
