Mastercard: The e-commerce equivalent of a lucky necklace?

A new campaign from Mastercard and McCann Worldgroup Singapore focuses on some of the protective practices people in Southeast Asia use for luck.

Ad Nut is not a superstitious creature, and thus doesn't believe that a jade necklace or a crystal can keep one safe. But Ad Nut is happy to see these practices appearing in this campaign, because it's a relatively rare and happy event to see an international brand getting localisation so right—demonstrating a high level of cultural understanding without being patronising.

Ad Nut also has keen ears, and notes that Mastercard's audible, six-note "logo" is strongly in play throughout this campaign (for background see "Mastercard, Linkin Park and an earworm coming soon to a shop near you"). You'll find yourself humming it later, especially if you watch all of these shorter videos promoting specific card features:

The digital campaign is running in four different languages across five Southeast Asian markets, and the company is using contextual, interest and affinity targeting to reach e-commerce shoppers. The agency also says a cross-platform approach will will ensure consumers are exposed to the videos throughout their journey, and the launch of the videos will be staggered to achieve sequential messaging.

CREDITS

CEO: Nicholas Handel
Regional Business Director: Chris Galea
Regional Group Account Director: Elisa Tsang
Senior Account Manager: Ho Jie Wei
Account Manager: Koh YiLeen
Senior Account Executive: Du Jie Ying
Regional Planning Director: Judd Labarthe
Planning Director: Manasi Trivedi
Group Creative Director: Angie Featherstone
Group Creative Director: Eirma Webster
Senior Art Director: Joey Claroniño
Senior Copywriter: Ashok Narandran
Operations Director: Lesley Chelvan
Head of Broadcast: Clayton Lai
DI & Print Production Manager: Darren Soong
Creative Services Manager: Louiza Joseph
Studio Manager: Ivy Yap
Production House: Atypical Films
Film Director: Priscilla Ang Geck Geck
Post Production House: VHQ Singapore
Audio Production House: Fuse Adventures In Audio
Media Agency: Carat APAC
PR Agency: Weber Shandwick

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.