MasterCard 2012 Annual Report Download - page 19

We continue to support our brand by using digital, mobile and social channels to allow us to engage more
directly with our stakeholders and allow consumers and customers to engage directly in programs, promotions
and merchant offers, as well as provide relevant information on MasterCard products, services and
tools. MasterCard has also introduced both global and region-specific smart phone applications, including
MasterCard’s ATM Hunter®, MasterCard Easy Savings®, PayPass Locator, MCompass, and Budget Pilot that
provide consumers with on-the-go utility. MasterCard continues to use digital and mobile channels and social
media to develop preference and usage with consumers and more effectively partner with customers and
merchants to help them drive their respective businesses. For example, we have used Facebook to run our
Priceless music programs which offer music benefits and music mobile applications to MasterCard cardholders
in Australia and Mexico.
We also seek to deliver value to customers and consumers through the sponsorship of a variety of sporting,
entertainment and charity-related marketing properties. We have partnerships with Major League Baseball, the
PGA Tour, the Union of European Football Association Champions League, the Walt Disney Company in
Europe, The Grammy Awards and The Brit Awards. In 2012, we continued and expanded our partnership with
Stand Up to Cancer, which ties MasterCard cardholder use of MasterCard cards and other payment devices in
restaurants and online to our donations to cancer research. We also entered into a sponsorship partnership in 2012
with the Brazilian Football Confederation, Brazil’s national football team. Also in 2012, we entered into a
sponsorship partnership with Sonoma State University in Northern California to sponsor its new performing arts
center. Our approach to sponsorship assets aligns with consumer segments important to us and our customers.
Customer and Stakeholder Relationship Management
We are committed to providing issuers and acquirers, merchants, governments, telecommunications
companies and other parties that play a role in the payments industry with coordinated services that leverage our
expertise in payment programs, product development, technology, processing, consulting and information
services and marketing. We manage our relationships with our customers and other parties (including processors
and other third parties) on a global and regional basis, to ensure that their priorities are consistently identified and
incorporated into our product, brand, processing, technology and related strategies, and to ensure we provide
value to them.
Issuers and Acquirers. In addition to the many ways described above that we provide value to issuers and
acquirers, we enter into business agreements which provide customers with financial incentives and other support
benefits to issue, accept, route, prioritize and promote our branded products and other payment programs. These
financial incentives may be based on GDV or other performance-based criteria, such as issuance of new payment
products, increased acceptance of our products, launch of new programs or execution of marketing initiatives.
We believe that our business agreements with these customers have contributed to our volume and revenue
growth in recent years.
Merchants. Merchants are an important constituency in the MasterCard payments system and we are
working to further develop and enhance our relationships with them, and provide value to merchants of all sizes.
Our core programs enable merchants to receive secure and timely payments from cardholders across the globe.
We provide merchants with solutions that help to increase revenues, enable new sales channels, create better
purchase experiences, improve efficiencies and address fraud. For example, we provide merchants the
opportunity to increase revenue through the suite of information, consulting and managed services offered by
MasterCard Advisors, which can help them understand specific activity in their industry, evaluate their sales
performance against competitors and focus direct marketing efforts. We enable merchants to build a recurring
relationship with their customers through products and solutions such as reloadable prepaid solutions, as well as,
in some circumstances, licensing them directly as issuers. Through our Priceless Cities platform, we work with
merchants to build consumer affection and deepen their existing customer relationships. In terms of enabling new
sales channels, we give merchants a way to accept payments through channels like mobile, and help merchants
create better purchase experiences through platforms such as our digital platform supporting payments in-store,
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