MasterCard banks on World Cup in Thai blitz

The card company, an official sponsor of the tournament, hopes the campaign will boost brand awareness.

MasterCard, its member banks and merchants will collectively spend 40 million baht (about US$1 million) on the promotion, which will cover major print and broadcast media, and outdoor, spearheaded by a 20-second FIFA World Cup television commercial by McCann-Erickson.

The company's communications plan also includes direct mailers, flyers, in-store promotional signage and ATM screen messages.

The promotion itself allows those using their cards at participating outlets to take part in a grand lucky draw, an instant win draw, and a collect- and-win draw where participants must collect a full set of five MasterCard team jerseys - England, Brazil, France, Japan, Korea - to qualify. The top prizes include all-expenses paid trips for two to the World Cup finals in Yokohama. The current promotion is the second in Thailand this year linked to MasterCard's sponsorship of the World Cup. The first was a lucky draw campaign in conjunction with Citibank in January.

The card company has initiated more than 30 promotional events in Asia-Pacific linked to its sponsorship of the World Cup so far, kicking off with a 15-month campaign in Japan in November 2000 which included a television commercial starring Japanese soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata.

Besides the promotion in Thailand, other ongoing MasterCard promotions in Asia include a triple lucky draw in Hong Kong, and a "tear and win" promotion in Indonesia, scheduled to run until the end of June. The grand prize for both draws include tickets to World Cup games.

According to the president of MasterCard Asia-Pacific, Andre Sekulic, the region is the company's fastest-growing card payment area in the world.

Last year, MasterCard's business in the region grew by almost 20 per cent over the previous year to US$146.8 billion. The company expects Asia's improving economies will translate into another successful year.