Mastercard Chief: “Consumers Hate Your Ads And They Want Experiences!”

Mastercard Chief: “Consumers Hate Your Ads And They Want Experiences!”
B&T Magazine
By B&T Magazine



People have become bored and disengaged with advertising and now prefer to “have uninterrupted experiences” with brands according to Mastercard’s global CMO, Raja Rajamannar.

Speaking with CNBC Media in the US, the New York-based Rajamannar (pictured below) said the rise of ad blockers was evidence enough that people were increasingly disinterested in traditional advertising.

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“Now if you see the trend, consumers are not interested in ads. They want uninterrupted experiences. The fact that there are 225 million consumers who are active users of ad block[ers] tells you that they’re saying ‘no I don’t want your ads.

“How do you reach consumers? That kind of a scenario is a not about storytelling. It is all about story making, it is through experiences that you give consumers where they become a part of the story, you enable them to create and tell their own stories which we call story making.”

Rajamannar said it was now less about ads and more about the “four Ps” – product, promotion, price and place. He added that it was pointless marketers complaining about customer’s high expectations as that had simply become the new norm.

The credit card company has long played on its “Priceless” marketing strategy, where it’s not about whacking more dept on your Mastercard, rather it’s the “surprise and delight” of the experiences that are purchased.

Rajamannar’s view mirrors that of Mastercard’s Australia’s head of marketing, Sarah Pike, who recently told B&T that it was all about “passion points”.

“It’s the things that people get really passionate about,” Pike said. “Take MasterCard’s Priceless program, it’s all built around nine different consumer passion points and that would be sports, arts and culture, philanthropy, diving, music, culinary experiences, shopping and the environment, and we know they’re the most relevant passion points. And the core thing about Priceless is that experiences matter more than things.

“How do we get cut-through? There’s two key elements. The Priceless brand platform is unique in the market and it’s heavily based around consumer insights and it has that direct appeal about its uniqueness. We’re not about ‘free stuff’, we’re about connecting you to experiences. And number two we harness the power of digital and mobile and we do a lot across social,” Pike said.




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