Visa To Evolve Brand To Better Reflect New Payment Opportunities16 March 2005
Visa International today announced plans to refresh and evolve its brand identity and structure. The changes include a new look for the famous blue, white and gold VISA(R) logo and changes to card design features. A major communications campaign will take place between now
and the end of the year when the first cards and merchant signage bearing the new logo will start to appear.
"Over the last several years the scope of our business has increased considerably. We were simply a consumer credit card company. Today, debit and prepaid products, commercial payment solutions and processing and authentication services are major components of our business," said Christopher Rodrigues, president and CEO, Visa International. "We need to
evolve the way the brand is used to enable consumers and merchants to distinguish between different Visa products and services while continuing to trust Visa to enable them to make efficient secure payments anywhere in the world. We are also taking this opportunity to refresh the look and feel of the brand to ensure it remains up to date and relevant."
The updated brand will work better across new technologies and payment channels, such as the Internet, mobile phones and handheld devices. As well as a refreshed VISA logo on the card and at the point-of-sale, it will allow for a new card format that will complement the issuer's own brand. The well-known VISA dove hologram on the front of the card will be moved to the back and be integrated with the magnetic stripe, making card counterfeiting more difficult
while allowing a larger part of the front of the card to be used for new issuer designs or communication.
"The changes in the Visa brand herald a new era for Visa in Canada," said Brenda Woods, vice-president, consumer products, Visa Canada. "The new brand system and design reflect years of growth in the Visa business, both in Canada and around the world. It gives our members and partners more flexibility, and reflects the innovation driving Visa's growing number of products and services."
With more than one billion cards globally and more than 22 million acceptance locations, Visa is planning a gradual transition to the new look. New brand guidelines will be available to Visa member banks and card manufacturers in June while actual card changes will take place over the next three years. Starting in late 2005, banks can issue new cards with the updated
design and format while merchants replace Visa signage, such as window decals, tent cards, and cheque presenters. Visa will work with member banks, merchants, vendor partners and law enforcement agencies to explain the changes.
"This is an evolution of the VISA brand that ensures that it stays relevant, innovative and forward-looking," said David Aaker, a recognized authority on global branding and vice chairman of Prophet. "Every leading brand needs to undergo periodic review. Visa is maintaining its key brand equities while expanding meaning and relevance to embrace its new business opportunities. This change very much underscores the leadership role that Visa
provides in the category. This is an outstanding example of creative, innovative brand solutions to an expanding business opportunity."
The brand changes represent 18 months of work, based on research among more than 7,000 consumers, merchants, commercial customers and banks in 16 countries worldwide.
Over the past 30 years, VISA has become one of the world's most trusted brands. In addition to cards, the VISA logo appears in shop windows, on the Internet, in mail order brochures, on mobile phones, in TV ads, and at major sponsored events worldwide.
Note To Editors:
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A brand structure or architecture shows how an organization's various brand marks relate to each other and to the customer. The VISA brand structure unifies all of Visa's products and services (such as Visa Gold, Visa Business, Verified by Visa, Visa contactless programs, etc) with a common look centered on a fresh, contemporary design. The new design continues to use many of the successful features from the current Visa design, including prominent use of
the Visa brand name, the blue, white and gold colors, and the italicized typestyle. It differs from the Visa mark now seen on cards and at acceptance locations as follows:
- The 'V' in Visa has been enhanced with a gold color to highlight the
Visa wordmark's unique serif
- The word 'Visa' is much more prominent, reflecting research that
consumers respond to seeing the word 'Visa' more than to the mark
- The banners used as borders in the current design have been
eliminated. Research had shown these were confining and reinforced the
impression of Visa as a card product. Today Visa is used for payment
in multiple ways (in commercial systems, on the Internet, mobile
phones etc)
- Visa Electron will share the same new Visa identity on the card and at
the point-of-sale but will be identified by the word Electron below
the Visa logo
- In some regions (Europe), 'V' will be used on its own with a different
brand name, such as 'V PAY', for business opportunities that reflect
new and different ways to pay
The new look highlights the unequalled strength of Visa as a brand name while continuing to utilize Visa's well-recognized blue, gold and white colors.
For more information, visit www.visa.com/brand
About Visa Canada
As "The World's Best Way to Pay(R)," VISA(R) is the leading payment brand in the world. Twenty-one thousand financial institutions worldwide rely on Visa's processing system, VisaNet(R), to facilitate almost $3 trillion (USD) in annual transaction volume with virtually 100 per cent reliability. Visa has unsurpassed global acceptance at more than 20 million locations including more than 840,000 ATMs. Within Canada, 25 Member financial institutions have issued
25 million VISA cards, accounting for $122 billion in annual sales volume in 2003. For more information, visit www.visa.ca.
For further information: Mei Velasquez, Visa Canada, (416) 860-8869,
mvelasqu@visa.com; Terrie Tweddle, Visa Canada, (416) 860-3871,
ttweddle@visa.com
Source: Canada NewsWire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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