- Challenge
As a global payments technology company, Visa is focused on delivering the greatest value to people, businesses and economies everywhere, regardless of currency, or form factor. And as an extension of this commitment, one of Visa’s primary missions has been to establish itself as a force for change and strident supporter of the digital currency community. But how does one of the most established names in traditional finance show that it both supports this new technology and also fit in with a community that is wary of inauthentic brand involvement? Visa knew it wanted to educate the masses about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a piece of digital technology that soared in popularity early in 2021.
The goals of this moment were to:
- further demonstrate Visa as a network working for everyone – including the creators and collectors in the NFT community.
- establish Visa as the first major payment brand to take a stake in an NFT project.
- help Visa’s clients and partners better understand the NFT space and the role that Visa can play in creating an NFT-commerce strategy, reinforcing Visa’s role as the bridge between the traditional and crypto economy.
- Solution
Early on, the team knew we had to fulfill our goal of positioning Visa as a leader and educator in the NFT-commerce space and would do so by publishing a whitepaper and blog post. But we also knew that those aspects wouldn’t be enough to garner media interest or prove ourselves entirely to the digital currency community. We needed a hook. Which led Visa to decide to purchase its very own NFT, but it couldn’t just be any NFT. It had to be one with a story. One with a reputation in the community. Something that said, “Visa understands this space.”
Which led us to CryptoPunks, one of the very first NFTs. We knew, that by purchasing a CryptoPunk, we weren’t just buying a piece of pixelated art, we were acquiring a piece of crypto history. Our purchase would signal to the community of thousands of crypto investors, entrepreneurs, and builders that have collected and used CryptoPunks – that Visa is not only a supporter of this digital movement, but an integral part of it as well.
- Results
The announcement captured the zeitgeist with over 120 total articles in each of the top business and finance publications, as well as top tech and culture outlets such as CNET and Mashable. Media lauded Visa’s involvement in the NFT space and positioned Visa’s crypto strategy not only as innovative and knowledgeable, but also “fun” and “exciting.” Additionally, Visa became a trending topic on Twitter on announcement day, and even had Access’ PR work praised on social media.
The announcement yielded 47,649 social mentions with an earned reach of 479,377,218. Since Visa’s purchase of the Punk was announced, more than 200 additional CryptoPunks have been purchased, triggering a single-day record in sales for the series with $86 million spent. The market cap for CryptoPunks also raised with the most affordable Punk available now going for $250K.
Read the coverage on: Forbes, Fortune, ARTnews and HypeBeast
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