Visa announces suite of sensory branding

Visa recently 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 Pyeong Chang 2018.

“For 60 years, the Visa brand has been a global symbol of innovation, speed, trust and security,” said Visa Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Lynne Biggar.

“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.”

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 transaction.

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.

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 said the sound or animation cues positively impacted their perception of the Visa brand.
81 percent said they would have a more positive perception of merchants who used either the sound or animation cues.

Less than a second in length, the sound of Visa was found to signal speed and convenience.
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 programme for deeper integration requirements, in 2018. Visa is also developing pilot programmes with a national merchant and point-of-sale (POS) hardware vendors for 2018.