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Coffee and Visa Cards Go Together

Launch of Visa mPOS at Tourism Indaba 2013

Year:
2013

Client:
Visa

Visa wished to both increase its visibility in the tourism sector and launch a new mobile point-of-sale system (mPos). They recognised the annual Tourism Indaba in Durban as a primary platform for this.

Tourism Indaba is an extremely noisy environment, with delegates rushing from meeting to meeting between the ICC and the DEC. Delegates and game lodges, tour operators, hotel groups and the like meet to negotiate deals for the coming year. Financial management is pushed to the periphery in this environment.

Although the ICC and DEC are packed with exhibitors, the pause area outside the ICC is not used, except for tables and chairs where delegates take a break in the sun with a coffee or snack. Trouble is, the coffee is terrible! So we thought we’d entice delegates with far better coffee and use this transaction as an opportunity for a product demo. This delegate will chat with a well-informed host while they buy their coffee for a nominal amount, with their credit card, using an mPOS device. We’ve shown them how easy it is to use, demonstrating two relevant benefits to SME’s in the tourism sector – simplicity and mobility.

The stand was a success, winning the Platinum Award for Best Sponsorship Stand at Indaba. More importantly, the client was able to get a feel for the ROI, having done over 1800 product demos. Behind the coffee bar, we created airy spaces for bank representatives to take the transaction further for those who showed more interest in using mPos in their tourism operation.

The design of the stand was inspired by trendy local coffee bars that are popping up all over South Africa – the likes of Post, Superette, Haas and Loading Bay. We aimed to take Visa out of a corporate space and make the stand chic and inviting. We did so by using natural woods with laser-engraving, plants, eclectic furniture pieces with pops of colour and bicycles with Visa number plates to attract attention. And location, location, location – Visa was in the most prominent position of the whole show. A perfect way to be the most visible brand at Indaba.