Visa says 'Dream to Advance' through its new campaign

Visa Debit card brings its customers a brand new TVC to make believe that no matter where one is his / her dream can be achieved using Visa Debit card. The ad film displays a story of a teacher based in the lap of the Himalayas in a small village in Kashmir. Living his nights in the dark, the lead of the ad film, uses his Visa debit card to make purchases on the internet, with which he builds a cycle generator to supply electricity to his neighbourhood. The TVC has been created by BBDO and shot in Kashmir over a span of 4 days. The nationwide campaign ‘Dream to Advance’ aims to drive out the idea that a debit card is a tool used by rich people to shop for expensive things. The film is aimed to highlight the growing use of debit cards and ecommerce across India including smaller towns and cities.

 

Adgully caught up with Uttam Nayak, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa; Shubhranshu Singh, marketing director, India and South Asia; and Josy Paul, Chief Creative, BBDO to know more about the business and the campaign.

 

Giving an insight about the business and the motives that drove this campaign, Nayak said, “The earlier half of the last decade of the business was dominated with credit and debit acquisition of customers. In 2008 the credit card industry hit a roadblock with bad debts where people were unable to pay their bills, thus slowing down credit card acquisition. Hence from 2008 onwards till date, there has been a loss of over 10 million customers, in the industry as a whole, who closed their accounts either voluntarily or by force of banks for non –  payment.” On the other hand, when there were 300 million customer withdrawing millions from ATM’s etc, the industry focus was bound to shift its focus on these debit card holders to get them using it at point – of – sale (POS) and online. Thus with this shift in focus, debit card transactions have actually over taken credit card transactions. “If one has to understand the market, then, more than 50% of POS and e-commerce transactions happen on debit card and not credit card. So, this provides India the title of ‘a debit card market’ than its earlier title of a credit card market”, he added.

 

The debit card market is 300 million in India and is growing at 25 – 30 million a year is providing more opportunities for more ‘cashless’ or electronic payments. “We see that the best is yet to come. According to RBI data of the industry on spends, we have grown 30% in 2011 and 40% on transactions. So if the industry is growing so well in this time, the next decade or so is going to be far better because e-commerce accessibility will be better. As the government plans suggest, by 2016 every village will have access to internet, it only means that higher degree of cashless internet transaction penetrations, thus booming the industry”, explained Nayak.

 

Speaking about the rationale that went in the making of the campaign Nayak said, “With this campaign, we want our customers to understand that a debit card is not a tier I product only; because a tier II city might not have an ATM or a POS transaction possible, but has access to internet. Cities and towns like Betul, Sawai Maddhopur, Sikar, Banwar, Ongole and many such places have Visa debit card holders to use this to make online utility bill payments, purchases, ticketing etc. So through our constant engagement with our e-commerce spenders through ‘I-pad and I-pod contents’, we observed numerous winners emerging from these unheard town and cities where even courier services are not available. So we understand that internet is one major driver to the growth in needs and desires and Visa is a means to achieve it.

 

Also, of the 30 million debit card holders, almost 24 – 25 million of them come from tier II and tier III and places beyond since our biggest issuers of debit cards are public sector banks like State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Andra Bank etc across networks.”

 

Illustrating this, for a tier I city it would mean a shopping card experience, but a tier II or tier III city where there is less or no accessibility to ATM and shopping spot, they are now venturing into electronic payment through e-commerce purchases.

 

The previous campaign was all about emphasizing the fact that the Visa debit can go along with the holder at every place (POS), be it movie theatre or shopping mall. Nayak explains that in this new campaign the idea is to remind and reinforce that a Visa debit card is not only for ATM and a POS but also works on the internet. If we see, the 40% growth that is coming in is from utility bill payments, ticketing, mobile top-ups, insurance premium and health, and all these sectors cut across all socio-economic segments.

 

 

Singh explaining the brief given for the campaign said, “The ad campaign has an extensive pre – work been done upon it, where the client and the agency had numerous brain storming sessions with critical studies of tier II and tier II geographies like Lucknow, Madurai etc. Through this research we understood that on one hand there is a constant bombardment of need and choice and people have aspirations on one hand and affordability on the other. So then comes the fact that they have lack of means to pay and get things, since either they are not available or they could not use the card like in places like Datiya, Merut, Sikar and Hapur. Thus Visa has a powerful role in resolving this tension; the moment one has access to internet and a card that gives you transactional ability and unparallel security that immediately converts into an opportunity. It’s like building a highway to your doorstep; no matter where one is, as long as one has accessibility, affordability and the means to do it, the material will come to you. And this is where we began from to tell people that geographically where one is, every Indian has equal opportunity to dream and make their aspirations come true. The TVC is on air on Hindi channels and will also explore the digital medium. It is a multimedia campaign across seven languages. The fantastic thing about Youtube is that it has massive virility; so in the banking and financial sector, no video has got 54,000 hits on the first day of posting / upload, without any digital campaign or promotions about the campaign! 

 

 

Explaining about the idea that was developed, Paul said, “The insight acquired during this collective briefing was the democratisation of opportunity. For a Visa debit card, everyone is equal; one is no longer guarded by infrastructural flaws or by geography. We then looped the idea that a debit card is a tool for progression and that Visa Debit brand could stand for a higher purpose.” Adding further he said, “We wanted to shoot at a remote place and Kashmir has been isolated from the advertising world . This was a great prospect for us to amalgamate Kashmir into advertising.” The campaign has been directed by Amit Sharma of Chrome Pictures, with dialogues by legendary lyricist Gulzar and soulful music by Shantanu Moitra.