Visa

How Visa Turned the Games Into a Marketing Win

Renowned for its extensive network facilitating secure transactions worldwide, Visa took its leading role in the global financial services market for a run at the Olympics. As an official sponsor of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, the company collaborated with Team Visa athletes to highlight their Olympic partnership and support local businesses through the Visa Go app. Their hurdle: Leveraging their brand’s competitive advantage to capture global attention, all the while driving local impact.

Right off the line, Visa teamed up with Snapchat to craft a comprehensive marketing strategy that would facilitate amplifying their Olympic sponsorship and promoting their Visa Go app. To that end, their approach included institutional Snap Ads spotlighting Visa athletes, as well as an augmented reality (AR) Lens offering users a clear idea of how the app would work. Their efforts successfully leaned into Visa’s innovative edge while connecting with tech-savvy audiences.

Visa then took it a leap forward by collaborating with Snap Stars — popular creators on the Snapchat platform — to create dynamic, relatable ads. Utilizing Snapchat’s premium First formats like First Lens and First Story, Visa was able to maximize their campaign’s visibility and reach.

Champion Strategy, Champion Results

Visa’s campaign delivered a winning performance. Content featuring Snap Stars collaborations achieved a staggering 80% lower cost per 2-second view compared to standard Visa-branded content. The campaign exceeded expectations, reaching 13.7 million unique French Snapchat users over 18 — a majority of the demographic Visa aimed to engage.

Their AR Lens was another star performer, with 4.3 million people interacting with it. Individuals who played with the Lens in the carousel interacted for an average of 9 seconds, while those who scanned the Snapcode via home campaigns interacted 25 seconds on average. The innovative, immersive experience not only achieved the goal of highlighting Visa’s app, but also captivated users in an authentic, memorable way.

According to Visa Brand Marketing and Media Senior Manager Fouad Hachani, “This summer, as Paris welcomed the world for the Paris 2024 Games, Visa, a Worldwide Partner, imagined a campaign like an open-air exhibition by inviting audiences to ‘Move from global sport to local commerce.’ Snapchat allowed us to rethink the experience of our campaign by offering French and foreign users the chance to rediscover the works in a new way while inviting them to visit local partner businesses. The strength of the idea was to reproduce the works in a round trip within the capital, and to tell the experience in an authentic way thanks to the Snap Stars — placing Snapchat among the best performers of our Paris 2024 campaign.”

Visa’s campaign underscores the power of strategic partnerships and innovative digital marketing, offering some valuable key lessons for small and medium-sized businesses:

• Leverage Snap Stars: Collaborating with popular figures can enhance content engagement and reduce costs. Authenticity matters, influencers often deliver it — and Snapchat is the perfect place for it all to happen.

• Embrace AR Technology: Interactive AR experiences are proven to captivate audiences, spark curiosity, and encourage deeper interaction with your brand.

• Diversify Ad Formats: Employing a range of advertising formats broadens reach and effectively targets specific demographics.

• Takeovers: Visa’s First Story effort realized a unique reach of 13.7M, highlighting the validity and potential of working with Snap Stars to maximize Takeover benefits.

Adopt those tactics and your business is in the best possible position to develop compelling campaigns that resonate with their target audiences, driving both awareness and engagement. Whether you’re launching an app or promoting a product, innovation and collaboration can transform your marketing into a medal-worthy success.