Video, as it turns out, did not kill the radio star. The venerable media category is alive and well, and it played an important role in a recent campaign by Visa. The credit card company, along with agency OMD, teamed with Clear Channel Radio to create an innovative program to drive short-term volume, or cash flow, through the Visa network.
The plan involved moving ad dollars from morning TV to morning radio and creating 15-second spots that were associated with commercial time for certain marketing categories, such as quick-serve restaurants, retail/shopping, travel and bill paying. For instance, one 15-second spot presented the idea of using your Visa card to pay for a fast-food purchase just before an ad ran for Burger King.
The plan involved moving ad dollars from morning TV to morning radio and creating 15-second spots that were associated with commercial time for certain marketing categories, such as quick-serve restaurants, retail/shopping, travel and bill paying. For instance, one 15-second spot presented the idea of using your Visa card to pay for a fast-food purchase just before an ad ran for Burger King.
Station owner Clear Channel developed a turnkey program that seamlessly paired Visa's quick-hitting spots with more than 25,000 appropriate merchant messages in more than 120 markets.
The results were impressive: The radio campaign generated five times as many gross rating points as Visa had been getting with its morning TV advertising. Additionally, short-term volume through Visa's network rose 10 percent compared with the same time period during the previous year.
But perhaps most significant is this: Visa has singled out the campaign as a company-wide best practice, basically exporting the concept to other regions for study and implementation.
"We're constantly evaluating new techniques and relationships that enable us to drive growth, while highlighting the attributes of the brand and our products in a way that is topical and relevant to cardholders," said Elyssa Gray, senior business leader of media and creative services at Visa Inc. "OMD, together with Clear Channel Radio, created a highly innovative solution that not only resonated with our target audience but helped us achieve our objectives."
