In the mid-1990s, Mastercard had a perception problem. Banks were issuing fewer of its cards because the Visa brand had a stronger pull with consumers. When Larry Flanagan joined Mastercard as vice president of advertising in 1996, he found a brand he later described as “in a mess.”
The pitch
Mastercard invited agencies to compete for a new campaign, and saw 35 ideas from five agencies. Research at the time, recalled by Joyce King Thomas of McCann Erickson, showed the brand was seen as “ordinary” and “everyday.”
McCann pitched something different. Instead of arguing that Mastercard was accepted in more places or offered better rewards, it built an ad around the things money can’t buy.
How the ads work
The format was simple and repeatable. An ad lists the prices of a few purchases connected to a moment, usually three, then names a fourth thing that can’t be bought, which is valued as “priceless.” Then the announcer delivers the line: “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Mastercard.”
The very first ad, which aired in September 1997, was the one presented in the pitch: a father and son at a baseball game. The costs of the day out add up; the time together is priceless.
Ignoring the research
The Mastercard team loved it. According to Marketing Week, the marketers believed “Priceless” had a stronger foundation for a long-running campaign than the alternatives, even though research did not clearly favor it, and they had to tell the company’s board that they were going with their judgment over the research.
The bet paid off. Not long after, Mastercard signed a deal with Citibank that brought its cards much wider distribution. The company had also fixed its processing network and sales operation, but “Priceless” was a big part of the reason.
Why it worked
- It turned a financial product into an emotion. A credit card is a way to pay; “Priceless” linked it to the moments people spend money to create.
- It answered a worry. The campaign was designed to make Mastercard feel friendly and a little humorous, and to respond to public concern that everything was becoming commercialized.
- The format was endlessly flexible. Any moment in life could become a “Priceless” ad, in any country and language.
- It was easy to parody. Countless jokes copied the structure, which only spread it further.
Legacy
“Priceless” was never supposed to last this long. Flanagan stayed with Mastercard until his retirement in 2010, holding its top marketing job for his final 10 years there, and when Marketing Week looked back in 2019, the campaign was still running 22 years later. It has since grown into experiences and sponsorships under the “Priceless” name, one of the longest-running brand platforms in financial services.