Visa 2012 Annual Report Download - page 11

Table of Contents
Our fundamental approach to innovation focuses on enhancing our current product platforms, enabling more Visa transactions
in every channel, and extending the utility of our products and services to access points, such as eCommerce and mobile, and new
merchant segments and geographies. We invest in innovation, because we believe we can drive more secure, accessible and
versatile payment program options for clients, merchants and consumers. We focus on new payment channels, payment
technologies, payment account access devices and authentication methods. We have recently made significant investments in the
development of eCommerce and mobile payment platforms, contact and contactless chip cards and devices, card product
enhancements, authentication and security technologies and platforms; and money transfer. We have the following initiatives:
Payments Network Management
We devote significant resources to ensuring that Visa is the payments network of choice for clients, merchants and
cardholders. We seek to accomplish this by promoting our brand through marketing and sponsorship activities, educating domestic
and regulatory banking authorities on our capabilities, increasing acceptance of Visa products around the world and ensuring that
the system operates reliably and securely for all of our network participants.
Brand Management, Marketing and Corporate Reputation
We engage in a variety of activities designed to maintain and enhance the value of our brand, taking a targeted, analytical
approach tailored by geography to achieve our growth and business objectives. We combine advertising, sponsorships,
promotions, public relations and, increasingly, social media to create programs that build active preference for products carrying our
brand, promote product usage, increase product acceptance and support cardholder acquisition and retention. For merchants, we
work to ensure that the Visa brand represents timely and guaranteed payment, as well as a way to increase sales. For our issuer
clients, our marketing program is designed to support their card issuance, activation and usage efforts while complementing and
enhancing the value of their own brands.
Sponsorship is a specific area where we have invested in developing global marketing relationships to promote the Visa
brand. For instance, we have been the exclusive payment services sponsor for the Olympic Games since 1986 and have extended
that sponsorship through 2020. We are also one of six FIFA partners providing us with worldwide exclusive access to the FIFA
World Cup™ and more than 40 other FIFA competitions. These sponsorships create a powerful opportunity to drive business,
achieve maximum exposure and improve brand lift, global reach and local relevance. In addition, we engage in marketing and
sponsorship activities with other regional, national and local companies, sports leagues and events, such as the National Football
League in the United States, and with associations and companies, to provide customized marketing platforms to clients in certain
countries and regions.
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Acquisitions.
Our acquisitions of CyberSource, PlaySpan and Fundamo are allowing us to execute our innovation strategy.
For example, CyberSource is helping drive eCommerce internationally, PlaySpan has accelerated our participation in the
fast-growing digital goods space, and Fundamo is supporting our unique partnership with the Rwandan Government to
drive access to financial services for consumers in that country.
• Partnerships. In mature markets, we have licensed our mobile NFC payment technology to third-party wallet providers to
help ensure their solutions are enabled with Visa payment functionality. In addition, we have signed agreements with
several mobile operators to extend payment functionality to mobile subscribers.
•
Product Innovations:
•
V.me by Visa: We have developed our new digital wallet service, V.me, to enhance the ease of use for consumers and
merchants in online payments. V.me is available in beta for consumer enrollment and online merchant checkout in the
United States, and the V.me acceptance mark is now visible on more than twenty merchant sites.
•
Visa payWave: We have certified NFC
-enabled smartphones from device manufacturers for use with our mobile
payment application, Visa payWave.
•
Visa Mobile Provisioning Services: We have developed a new service that enables banks and operators to securely
provision mobile payment accounts on NFC-enabled smartphones.
•
Visa Mobile Prepaid: We have introduced a new product based on Fundamo technology, bringing Visa
-quality
payments to unbanked consumers in developing markets.