Prepaid Solutions USA says its deal to issue a reloadable prepaid debit card for a major video game developer will help it attract new deposits from young consumers in disparate geographic regions.
Capcom Entertainment Inc. has said that its Unity Visa prepaid card, introduced last month, is the first such card designed specifically for gamers.
Prepaid Solutions, a subsidiary of West Suburban Bank in Lombard, Ill., issues the card, and Galileo Processing in Salt Lake City handles the processing.
Christian Svensson, a Capcom corporate officer and its vice president of strategic planning and business development, said the company wants to develop a card with a strong rewards program to strengthen its customers' brand loyalty.
"We want to reach out to our customers whenever we can, even if they're not playing our games," he said in an interview. "In an increasingly connected market, with increasingly informed customers, the value of the relationship with your consumer goes up dramatically."
Doug Bobenhouse, Prepaid Solutions' director of business development, said the deal can "create deposit accounts in different regions where we don't have a physical presence."
He said that Capcom will handle most of the marketing. It plans to distribute promotional flyers in copies of its recently released Street Fighter IV game and in upcoming releases.
Cardholders can select custom designs online using characters from several Capcom games. Rewards points can be redeemed on Capcom's Web site.
Svensson said there is a strong link between game companies and their fans. Capcom already has a loyalty program offered through its Web site.
"The card ties everything together and is the centerpiece, in a sense, of what we're trying to do," Svensson said. "The dynamic in marketing has changed, which has made this a really opportunistic time for" the prepaid card.
Bobenhouse said this type of rewards system could become a "checking account 2.0" for younger people. "There is sort of a hunger among young consumers to be better served with financial products that actually cater to them."
