Why do Visa, Mastercard and so on advertise to consumers? As far as I know, the way in which bank payments are processed is immaterial to the account holder. In any case, you can’t choose – you get whichever one your bank decides.
John Wanamaker is alleged to have said: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.” PaddyMiguel
The company probably pays out sales bonuses based on new customers and existing customers using their cards more, particularly if they accrue interest. That’s their business. They have an incentive to get brand recognition and partnerships. For the customer, it means nothing, but since when did we ever matter?
As an encouragement to use your credit card, rather than an encouragement to use their brand in particular. MissKitty
My husband and I have always had both Mastercard and Visa in our wallets, for the odd occasions when a vendor takes only one or the other, or when one of them is offline, as happens in hacking situations or “security updates” gone wrong. Here in Canada, there are many card providers and multiple banks. We have relationships with four, so there are choices of card.
Visa is a main sponsor for the Olympics, so it’s the only card accepted when purchasing souvenir merchandise and tickets. Funnily enough, there is currently a giant advert for Mastercard on the front of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Pengolina123
There are a few reasons they think it profitable to advertise. First, someone does make a choice about Visa/Mastercard – your bank will spend time and money working out which of these schemes offers best value, most functionality, etc. So there’s a direct appeal to the decision-makers at banks. I’d say this population is close to about 50 people in the UK.