Usain Bolt and Team Visa athletes to star in Visa
Europe’s "Flow Faster" 2012 Advertising
Campaign
London, 15 March 2012 — As the countdown to the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games intensifies, Visa Europe
this week unveils its new
2012 advertising campaign, featuring Usain Bolt. The campaign
marks the first appearance from Bolt in his role as Visa Europe
Innovation Ambassador, supporting Visa Europe’s payments innovation
programme. Visa will take the unique opportunity of London 2012 to
showcase its latest payment innovations and the Games will be the
first where consumers can choose not to bring cash at all but
instead to make contactless payments with either their contactless
card or a suitable NFC-enabled mobile phone.
The television commercial launches across Europe on Saturday
17th March, in the UK the 90" version will be shown during the
Jonathan Ross Show on ITV. The advert also includes cameo
appearances from the athletes who are part of Team Visa Europe, a
group of 20 top performing European athletes from nine different
countries who Visa is supporting in their journey to competing at
the London 2012 Olympic or Paralympic Games.
Set to the sound track of Hundred Mile High City by Ocean Colour
Scene, the 'Flow Faster' advert depicts Bolt arriving at a London
airport. As he stands at the luggage carousel, he’s not sure where
his bags are but it’s clear he needs to get somewhere. Not so clear
is why a seemingly ordinary member of the public is challenging him
to a race. We then see Bolt and the man race across London with
only Visa to help them. Through their purchases using Visa’s
mobile, contactless and card services, Bolt is able to transform
from a sharp suited traveler to being ready to race whilst the
other man smartens up with the purchase of a blazer and tie.
Catching a glimpse of Bolt making the journey across London are
Team Visa gymnast Louis Smith, BMX rider Shanaze Reade and boxer
Khalid Yafai on a London bus and triple jumper Phillips Idowu
getting his latest cut at the hairdresser alongside Taekwondo star
Aaron Cook and Paralympic athlete Stefanie Reid.
As the race reaches its conclusion the two characters arrive at
the Olympic Stadium. We cut inside to see Bolt as he settles into
the starting blocks. He looks up and gives a wry smile as he
realizes that his competitor across London was in fact the starter
for the sprint.
As Bolt rises in the blocks and the starting gun fires, the
camera pans out to reveal the London 2012 Olympic Stadium from
above and the commercial closes with the words 'Flow Faster with
Visa', reflecting the focus on speed and ease of the new ways to
pay with Visa.
The campaign will bring the Games to life for consumers across
Europe with promotions beginning at the same time via Visa Golden
Space (www.visa.co.uk/goldenspace)
offering the chance to win ticket packages to the London 2012
Olympic Games and other prizes via prize draw and instant win
competitions.
During Games time, payments innovation will take centre stage as
Visa Europe showcases its latest mobile payments technology as well
as implementing contactless payments infrastructure across London
and at the Olympic and Paralympic Games venues.
Mariano Dima, Executive Vice President of Product and Marketing
Solutions at Visa Europe, said: "Bolt embodies speed,
effortlessness and performance – the ability to deliver even on the
world’s biggest stage. Similarly for Visa Europe, London 2012 is a
showcase for our latest payments technology including contactless
and mobile payments, which will enable cardholders to experience a
secure, reliable and fast payments infrastructure for the Games and
beyond. Bolt is the perfect fit."
Usain Bolt, Visa Europe Innovation Ambassador, commented:
"London 2012 will be the world’s biggest sporting stage. I’ll be
there with one goal in mind – to defend my Olympic titles. Everyone
knows and trusts the Visa brand and now that they’re making
payments even easier and faster it’s a natural fit for me to work
with them."
Note to editors:
Check out Usain Bolt having a football kickaround with his
manager Ricky Simms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PPcG7kjyNU
About Visa and London 2012
Visa has been a global sponsor of the Olympic Games since 1986
and the Paralympic Games since 2002 and we were the first global
sponsor to commit to 2012. Visa is committed to the Olympic Games
through to 2020. As the world’s biggest sporting event, the Olympic
and Paralympic Games provide Visa with an unparalleled opportunity
to promote our brand to our broad and diverse customer base and to
reinforce preference for Visa products and services at an
international and local level.
For London 2012, Visa will be able to demonstrate the
convenient, fast and safe alternatives to cash showcasing prepaid,
Visa contactless payments, mobile technologies and other
innovations. This vision includes:
-
Contactless Visa cards: These are already being rolled out
across the UK and elsewhere in the world. Today there are 20
million contactless cards in the UK and 30 million across Europe,
with over 205,000 acceptance points at major retailers. London is a
hotspot for Visa contactless payments and visitors to The Games
will find it easy to pay with their contactless card
-
Mobile payments: Visa is working with partners from across the
payments ecosystem to make payments-enabled phones available to
consumers. Suitable phones with live Near-Field Communication (NFC)
technology and special apps will act as a Visa card, allowing
Londoners and visitors to travel around the city and make purchases
just by waving their mobile phone against a secure reader at a
retailer's till
-
Since 2002 Visa has extended its support of the Olympic &
Paralympic movement through the support of many athletes. For
London 2012, Visa Europe is supporting 20 athletes from nine
European markets through the Team Visa programme. In addition, Visa
has extended its support to athletes in the UK through Team 2012
Presented by Visa which is helping to deliver Team GB and
ParalympicsGB – Our Greatest Team for 2012
About Visa Europe
In Europe, there are 445 million Visa debit, credit and
commercial cards. In the 12 months ending September 2011 those
cards were used to make purchases and cash withdrawals to the value
of €1.7 trillion. 14% of consumer spending at point of sale in
Europe is with a Visa card, and almost 80% of that is on Visa debit
cards.
Visa Europe is owned and operated by more than 3,700 European
members and was incorporated in July 2004. Visa Europe is
independent of global Visa Inc., with an exclusive, irrevocable and
perpetual licence in Europe, while both companies operate to ensure
global interoperability. As a dedicated European payment system
Visa Europe is able to respond quickly to the specific market needs
of European banks and their customers - cardholders and retailers -
and to meet the European Commission’s objective to create a true
internal market for payments.
Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In
addition, Visa/PLUS is one of the world’s largest global ATM
networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 200
countries.
For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com