In a David & Goliath-type pitch, my agency joined forces with a marketing partner to go up against two massive advertising agencies and won the bid to create Visa’s first global B2B campaign.

We had to shift SMBs' perception of Visa from a consumer credit card to a partner with solutions and products to support small businesses. The campaign launched during the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when small business owners were in dire need of support. To help understand their mindset, I conducted qualitative interviews and discovered an ‘arc of recovery’ they were experiencing. A key insight we built the campaign upon was that business owners who were able to incorporate digital expansion felt confident not only in their recovery but confident in a new way of doing business that was better than before.

Together with our marketing partners, we worked closely with Visa’s marketing lead and interviewed their product specialists for insights. We created a messaging matrix for brand and product-specific content. We tested initial creative deliverables with focus groups and honed our messaging based on the findings.

Our campaign deliverables included a manifesto, video, print, digital advertising, and email marketing.

Visa’s post-campaign research found strong lifts in brand perception:

• Increased interest in Visa’s small business offerings and improved perceptions as—
  ‘more than a credit card company’
  ‘is changing how I pay for the better’
  ‘is a brand that cares about consumers.’ 

They also discovered above-norm breakthrough for online videos, and significant lifts in ad recall, especially among younger cohorts.

The campaign won Visa 3 platinum awards for digital advertising.