Visa Inc. has developed a social networking site tied to its sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament that it hopes will encourage fans to use its cards.
The San Francisco payments company's Visa Match Planner lets users to create custom World Cup viewing schedules that they can share with friends on other social networking channels such as Facebook.
The Match Planner is available in English, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese, and is customized for each of the 32 World Cup-qualifying countries. The tournament will begin in South Africa in June.
Companies can use social media to help change consumer habits, said Jennifer Bazante, Visa's head of global brand marketing. "It's no longer about traditional media, and it's important to take a more multimedia approach to deliver a message," she said.
The site, and Visa's "Go Fans" marketing campaign, can reinforce the ways the card brand helps fans express their soccer support by offering its products as an easier way to pay for goods and services, Visa said.
