New Firm Offers Gen Y Prepaid Card, Merchant Marketing

EdoInteractive, which combines the popularity of prepaid cards, social networking and mobile services among the Generation Y set, launched this week. CEO Ed Braswell tells CardLine he came up with the concept for the company and its products when his teenage daughter received several closed-loop retailer gift cards for her birthday and he noticed she also uses social networking Web sites and text messaging to connect with her friends. EdoInteractive offers a MasterCard prepaid card called Facecard, issued and processed by undisclosed partners, and a marketing platform merchants can use to target promotions via social networking among cardholders. Cardholders and their parents and friends may load funds onto the prepaid card. Cardholders also may transfer funds between their accounts. The service launched this week in the Nashville area with an undisclosed number of merchants. It also will be offered to students at 52 universities, including the University of Tennessee, University of Georgia, University of North Carolina and University of Texas, says Braswell. The company is using messages and electronic invitations on sites such as Facebook to promote discounts at events, including the Bonnaroo music and arts festival in Tennessee and the Country Music Awards Fan Fest.