Brief Explanation

Many Visa customers in China are used to Chinese payment method UnionPay when they go overseas. They don’t realize Visa actually has a wider coverage. If using Visa cards overseas was not top of mind for Chinese Visa credit card holders, we needed a direct way to make Visa noticed to increase their overseas transactions. Visa wanted to appeal to young affluent Chinese customers who are more independent and willing to explore on their own when travelling abroad. This young audience are unlike traditional Chinese tourists who typically prefer group travel and visit only the most famous tourist attractions.

Results and Effectiveness

We increased Visa’s outbound transactions by 40% compared to the previous year! In just 4 weeks, we attracted 7486 travelers to Visa's bike booths despite only being set up in 3 foreign cities. The campaign was also especially engaging for Chinese at home: • Featured as a trending topic on Sina Weibo (China’s Twitter) multiple times; • Reached 100+million overseas Chinese travelers (impressions). Visa’s online video was also viewed 32million times in just one month; • Campaign site engagement reached 138%, more than 4 times the industry benchmark; • Social sentiment increased by 5%, we gained 244,582 new Visa followers.

Creative Execution

By equipping the bikes with mobile devices, we led young Chinese Visa customers beyond usual tourist traps and directly to Visa-accepted merchants who may not accept UnionPay cards. We didn’t forget young Chinese travelers at home. We created engaging online content with a character who represented traditional Chinese tourists. This provoked young Chinese travelers who demanded a different experience and generated social response that even the Chinese press reported the topic! Word spread fast about Visa’s rental bikes; social KOLs, online videos, print and outdoor ads led young affluent Chinese to Visa’s website to experience a virtual Visa bike tour.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

We engaged young affluent Chinese overseas in their favorite cities: Melbourne, Sydney and Seoul. There, we presented them with unique opportunities to explore “off-the-beaten-track” with Visa, opening their eyes to Visa’s benefit abroad. Our idea “Visa Rental Bike”, equipped young Chinese Visa customers with free bikes and mobile location-based GPS devices to discover lesser-known areas of cities. We scoured Visa’s huge merchant database to find each city’s hidden gems and design the best cycling routes, even pre-programming the mobile devices. These devices automatically recorded new routes, updating options for the next keen Chinese traveler on the device and Visa’s website.