Mastering The World Cup: MasterCard Issues Affinity Cards

MasterCard "will have 2-3 million cards bearing World Cup marks" for the '02 event in South Korea and Japan, compared to "around 1.5 million World Cup affinity cards" for the '98 World Cup in France, according to Terry Lefton in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. MasterCard Senior VP/Global Sponsorship & Event Marketing John Stuart said that he "expects to top most other numbers from" the '98 World Cup, for which MasterCard issuers in 71 countries "leveraged with World Cup programs costing" $81M. Stuart said that MasterCard "has an extension of its FIFA deal" through '06 "all but finished" and "expects to sign it at the tournament" (SBJ, 12/3). Stuart: "This is the first time the World Cup will be held in two different countries, so there will be some challenging production issues. But there is a real opportunity to reach customers in two key markets through one event." The FINANCIAL TIMES' Matthew Garrahan wrote MasterCard has the "most to gain in South Korea," as Stuart said South Korea "is a relatively new market in terms of consumer acceptance of credit cards. There are ... very few indigenous users." Garrahan wrote of MasterCard, a World Cup sponsor since '90, "With a new Asian market ready for its first taste of the World Cup, more marketing money is expected to be spent on the Korea and Japan event than on any other previous tournament." MasterCard's range of affinity credit cards feature pictures of Pele and Hidetoshi Nakata, "an expected star" of the Japanese team (FINANCIAL TIMES, 12/3).

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