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Top 10 Innovative Brands 2015: #8 MasterCard

One “priceless” marketing campaign has unified the credit card company’s event strategy.

As part of MasterCard’s Priceless Surprises marketing campaign, actress Quvenzhané Wallis surprised travelers aboard an American Airlines flight with a screening of her film Annie.
As part of MasterCard’s Priceless Surprises marketing campaign, actress Quvenzhané Wallis surprised travelers aboard an American Airlines flight with a screening of her film Annie.
Photo: Rich Polk/Getty Images

The week before the Grammys, MasterCard deployed a troupe of Gwen Stefani look-alikes dubbed “Gwenabees” on the streets of Los Angeles and tweeted clues to help cardholders find them. The rewards? Tickets to the Grammys or to a Stefani concert. The digital scavenger hunt was just one of MasterCard’s “Priceless Surprises,” a marketing campaign that launched in 2014 and has been integrated into a variety of events, from sponsorships of major award shows like the Grammys to trade shows. So far, about 200 activations have taken place in 25 countries and touched areas such as sports, music, fashion, and shopping.

Through Priceless Surprises, MasterCard uses the element of surprise to encourage customers to use their cards—as well as connect with the brand on social media. “Marketers have always strived for ways to surprise and delight consumers, however, not until Priceless Surprises was launched, has a global brand cracked the code in making it the essence of an entire marketing platform—we’ve taken the concept and truly made it a year-round phenomenon,” said MasterCard’s chief marketing officer, Raja Rajamannar, in a press release.

MasterCard has incorporated the “priceless” theme into other events and brand partnerships, as well. During this year’s South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, MasterCard and Mashable sponsored a concept called the Priceless Elevator Pitch, inviting entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas—during a 60-second elevator ride—in a bid to win $15,000. A second round of the contest took place via Twitter Video.

In December, MasterCard surprised travelers on a cross-country American Airlines flight with a screening of the film Annie before it hit theaters—and brought out the film’s stars, Quvenzhané Wallis and Jamie Foxx, along with director Will Gluck. The campaign has also figured into trade events. The company has a Priceless Surprises vending machine designed to attract booth visitors at events like the 2015 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. A successful social media component to the campaign has helped the company connect with consumers. MasterCard reported a social media engagement rate three times higher than its other programs.

The campaign comes as MasterCard is performing well financially. It was listed as 326 on the Fortune 500 in 2014, up from 348 the previous year, and reported revenues of $8.3 billion, a 12.9 percent growth over 2013.

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