Future of Co-Branding Rests on Programs that Leverage Technology

At MasterCards 2004 Asia/Pacific Co-Branding Partners’ Forum, themed Strategies for Growth, senior MasterCard executives and co-brand partners shared insights into industry trends, business drivers, consumer demand and best practice to provide financial institutions with a strategic framework to grow their card programs in the region. Asia is emerging as a vibrant co-brand card market, according to Ajay Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager, South-East Asia, and head, Center of Excellence for Co-Branding, Asia/Pacific, MasterCard. Speaking at the opening session of the Forum in Shanghai, China (28-29 October), he made reference to MasterCard’s 21,000 co-brand programs globally of which 9,000 are in the Asia/Pacific region. Asian consumers are among the world’s most technology savvy and this will be reflected in their choice of payments products. For the last three consecutive years, MasterCard has experienced a 100% year-on-year growth in the number of smart cards in the region. As at June 2004, there were 23 million MasterCard smart cards in Asia/Pacific. The interoperability and expanded functionalities of smart cards make them ideal for issuers who want to enhance their co-brand programs. In the near future, technologies such as mobile payments and contactless payment will provide issuers with added value propositions for co-branding. Customization and segmentation will continue to play increasingly important roles in the success of co-brand programs. As consumers move to empower themselves, they are less likely to compromise. The programs that will make an impact are those with tailored offerings built on a strong understanding of consumers’ evolving lifestyles. Co-branded programs have a high propensity for customer retention and are a well tested platform for developing a loyal customer base. With increasing competition and the proliferation of options, converting the new customer to a loyal one will continue to be key to the success of a co-brand program. MasterCard’s diversified co-brand card programs offer the opportunity to reward customers with an expanded-utility payment vehicle. They deliver payment mechanisms of unsurpassed global acceptance, reliability and convenience, backed with comprehensive operational, marketing, and security features. Allowing exceptional flexibility for meeting the varied needs of the cardholder base, MasterCard’s co-brand programs have brought about a unique way of accessing customers, resulting in enhanced customer information, better customer communications and cross-sell opportunities. At the 2004 Asia Pacific Co-Branding Partners’ Forum, co-brand experts shared knowledge on an array of topics covering the economics of co-branding, leveraging smart card technologies for co-branding programs, the synergies for co-branding with a private label, rewards and loyalty programs for successful co-brands, credit risk management for co-brand cards, and digital and mobile content for co-branding programs.