MasterCard’s payment solutions and services are trusted around the world, making it essential for the brand’s communications to be smart, fast, cost-effective and personalized for the 210 different countries it reaches. Learn how Percolate helped MasterCard’s Corporate & Digital Communications Group become a global brand publisher that engages with 800,000 influencers each year in 11 different languages.

1. @nickcicero
7LessonsMarketersCanLearn
fromMasterCardtobecomea
GlobalPublishingPowerhouse

2. MasterCardrealizedthatthey
reached30Millionpeople
monthlybutparticipatedinless
than1%ofconversations.

3. Theywereignoring99%ofthe
conversationsthatpotential
andcurrentcustomerswere
openlyaskingfor.

4. “Ourgoalwassimple.Leadaconversationthatallows
ustoinform,engageanddemonstratethevaluethat
MasterCardisbringingtothemedia,bloggersand
ourstakeholderswithoutsimplyshoutingmessages
fromasoapbox”
— Andrew Bowins SVP of External Communications

5. Howdidtheymakethischange?
Thesesevensteps.

6. 1. KNOW WHAT YOU
STAND FOR

7. — Innovation and the future of payments
— Financial inclusion
— Safety and security
— Travel
— Small business.
BuildContentPillarstoDefineBrandMission
MasterCard’s rebranded Global Engagement bureau listed five
pillars that represent their mission and values:

8. 2. LET INFLUENCERS AND
COMMUNITY INFORM
CONTENT STRATEGY

9. Systematically tracking and monitoring conversations around MasterCard and competitors
across 55 markets and 26 languages helps communication teams stay on top of trends,
talk to influencers directly and share relevant news both globally and locally.
EveryPieceofContentTellsaStory

10. 3. STANDARDIZE THE
PUBLISHING PROCESS

11. MasterCard brought four content channels across seven global regions into one system of
publishing. The result was cost savings and increase in production speed, in fact they produced
and published over 2,500 pieces of original content in the third quarter of 2014
StandardizePublishing=IncreaseEfficiency

12. 4. PRIORITIZE STORYTELLING
OVER PRESS RELEASES

13. By advocating for the reader & prioritizing content and digital experiences that create
value for influencers, bloggers & journalists, MasterCard has pivoted its communications
approach from broadcast to dialogue, helping others interact with its stories.
ThinkAboutYourAudience

14. 5. INCREASE
VISUAL CONTENT

15. If the average length of a word in the English language is five characters, and tweets can
only be 140 characters, by that logic, one photo can convey the same emotion as roughly
35 tweets. Ask yourself: how can you tell that same press release visually?
PicturesTellAThousandWords

16. 6. MAKE CONTENT
CREATION EASY

17. By providing content building blocks across inspiration, imagery and information in each
teams’ local language, Percolate makes MasterCard’s marketers more efficient visual
storytellers.
AlignContentCreationtoBrandPillars
1910
Images uploaded and created in the
MasterCard/Percolate Media Library
716
Images edited and branded with
the Percolate Image Editor

18. 7. MEASURE
RELATIONSHIP
METRICS

19. In addition to reach, shares and traffic, MasterCard measures key relationship metrics like
time spent/visit & repeat visits. Newsroom teams understand how long readers consume
content, how often they come back and what percentage finish full stories over excerpts.
ValueMetrics>VanityMetrics

20. RESULTS?

21. This change in publishing has resulted in MasterCard becoming the most visible financial
services company globally, with 34% overall year-to-date positive share of voice versus
competitors.
Influencers MasterCard
engages with quarterly
Growth of monthly
website visits
Increase in time spent per
visit to the brand’s digital
communications properties
200,000 104% 132%
ResultsofMasterCard’sGlobalPublishingStrategy

22. 1. Know what you stand for
2. Let influencers and community inform content strategy
3. Standardize the publishing process
4. Prioritize storytelling over press releases
5. Increase visual content
6. Make content creation easy
7. Measure relationship metrics
Howtobecomeaglobalpublishingpowerhouse

23. Tolearnmoreabout
MasterCard’spublishing
transformation:downloadour
newcasestudyhere.

24. Percolate is the system of record for marketing. Our
technology helps the world's largest and fastest-growing
brands at every step of the marketing process.
Want to learn more?
Contact learn@percolate.com for more information
or request a demo today at percolate.com/request-demo