Visa’s big NFL radio buy is a strike at MasterCard

Visa has adopted its largest local NFL radio buy to date in an attempt to blunt the effectiveness of MasterCard’s new sponsorships or rights designations with 25 of the NFL’s 32 teams.

Visa holds the league’s national sponsorship rights in the payment card category, but with MasterCard challenging its longtime NFL association, Visa’s low-seven-figure radio buy is an attempt to strike a counterblow and perhaps prove that even in sports marketing, the best defense is a good offense.

Accordingly, Visa media agency OMD/Optimum Sports brokered buys with 14 NFL teams (nine of which have MasterCard corporate sponsorships), most of which included title sponsorships and category exclusivity of pregame shows. The pregame-show sponsorships tie in nicely to Visa’s new NFL-specific campaign theme of “getting ready for the game.”

BBDO, New York, is Visa’s longtime ad agency, and Velocity Sports & Entertainment helps implement Visa’s NFL sponsorship rights.

“We want to surround consumers, and expand our [NFL] association to show that Visa can help fans prepare for the game no matter how they do it,” said advertising vice president Nancy Friedman.

Instead of its normal load of a few NFL television ads, Visa will have eight to 12 NFL-themed TV ads this seaon, Friedman said, the first of which broke last week.

Accompanying the radio buys in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Minneapolis, New York (Giants), Oakland, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington are various promos related to VIP tailgate parties. Friedman said Visa also is working to develop retail promotions.

Other legs of the campaign include advertising on the tops of millions of pizza boxes and sweepstakes offering 10 grand prizes of trips to Super Bowl XXXIX.