E-Wallet Gets All-Star Pitch
MasterCard International has launched the MasterCard e-wallet for online shopping. The service will launch via a national TV
commercial to be aired tonight during NBC's coverage of the 2000 Major
League Baseball All-Star Game, making Purchase, N.Y.-based MasterCard the
first financial payment brand to promote this technology in a national
television campaign, it says.
The e-wallet enables cardholders to enter and store their MasterCard
credit card account number, as well as their shipping and billing
addresses, one time. The wallet can then be used to automatically complete order forms with one click at more than 1,400 online stores, the company
says. The MasterCard e-wallet, developed and supported by Brodia, offers consumers an array of services that MasterCard says
simplify online shopping, from password management, product research and
price comparison to automatic form fill and transaction record
maintenance. It also gives consumers the ability to block unwanted e-mail
and to receive only offers that match their interests. The service also
provides a directory listing thousands of merchants and service providers
by category and allows consumers to create their own collection of
favorite stores.
San Francisco-based Brodia has developed the technology and infrastructure
to deliver the online form of the payment card, enabling simplified
personal commerce from any Internet-connected device. Applications include
password management, product research, price comparison and merchant
evaluation, as well as automatic form fill, enhanced payment security,
transaction record keeping, privacy protection and rewards programs. It
claims to have established partnerships with financial institutions that
represent more than 100 million credit card and online banking customers.
Beginning today, consumers will be able to visit the MasterCard Web site
to sign up for the free e-wallet. In addition to the e-wallet, consumers
who visit the site will also have the ability to access electronic wallets
offered by a number of MasterCard member banks.
MasterCard will use its "Priceless" ad campaign to promote the launch of
the e-wallet. The McCann Erickson-produced spot will air at 8:00 p.m. EST.
It features a consumer shopping at a "real-world" simulation of the
Internet, depicted as a retail store. After completing his shopping, he is
faced with long checkout lines. Thanks to his MasterCard e-wallet, he is
able to circumvent the crowd and avoid waiting in line, while quickly
making his purchases. The spot concludes with the voiceover: "Express
Check-out on the Web: Priceless."
Recent MasterCard research also shows that nearly 63% of online users have
abandoned the checkout form prior to completing the transaction at least
once in a three-month period and 38% claimed it simply took too long to
complete a purchase, says the company.
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