By Dipo Olowookere
Global payments technology company, Visa, has announced a suite of sensory branding that will support the Visa brand in an expanded universe of connected, payment-enabled devices.
These new sound, animation and haptic (vibration) cues will help signify completed transactions in digital and physical retail environments when you pay with Visa.
The sound of Visa will debut in Visa’s global advertising campaign ahead of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
According to the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Visa, Lynne Biggar, “For 60 years, the Visa brand has been a global symbol of innovation, speed, trust and security.”
“As payments become increasingly embedded in commerce, the notion of ‘Everywhere You Want To Be’ takes on even greater meaning for our brand.
“As new payment experiences continue to take shape in the world, this suite of sensory branding elements will give consumers the assurances we know they want every time they use Visa,” Biggar added.
Research shows that the Visa brand universally signifies trust, security and an understanding of available payment options.
In a recent consumer study commissioned by Visa, up to 71 percent of respondents surveyed thought a website was secure when the Visa logo was visible, yielding a higher likelihood to complete a transaction1. In a digital world filled with connected wearable devices, Visa’s sensory branding elements are designed to evoke those same emotions, even in environments where the traditional Visa logo is not visible.
The Value of Sensory Branding
Extensive consumer research was conducted in eight countries to identify the impact of sensory branding on perceptions of both Visa and its ecosystem of partners, finding that 83 percent 2 said the sound or animation cues positively impacted their perception of the Visa brand; 81 percent 2 said they would have a more positive perception of merchants who used either the sound or animation cues; less than a second in length2, the sound of Visa was found to signal speed and convenience; and the effectiveness of haptic technology in advertising has been shown to incite feelings of “happiness” and “excitement” during exposure among consumers.
Visa’s sensory branding will be available as a software development kit (SDK) on the Visa Developer Platform, and through the Visa Ready program for deeper integration requirements, in 2018. Visa is also developing pilot programs with a national merchant and point-of-sale (POS) hardware vendors for 2018.
