CardMarketing 2.0

Issuers are at war with all things regular, conventional and standard. Or at least, they should be. The phenomenal consumer thirst for personalization, as covered in the previous post, demands that issuers start targeting niches, micro-niches and every kind of affinity group — however big, however small. These days, cardholders want a product and service that's relevant to them and rewards them in a way that's relevant to their interests, not everybody else's. Even when their interests include, well, blood elves.... Blood elves? Huh?

In fact, the latest example of a card targeting a niche comes not from an issuer, but a games developer and publisher — Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard, the company announced on May 3, has teamed up with First National Bank Omaha to offer a Visa Rewards card that rewards cardholders with World of Warcraft gametime. World of Warcraft, if you've not heard of it before, is a MMORPG played by some 8 million people around the world. Now don't tell me you don't know what a MMORPG is.

Cardholders can choose from one of 13 WoW designs, including images of gnomes, dwarves, orcs, the undead, blood elves (whatever the hell they are/do) and the WoW logo itself. Once their new World of Warcraft Rewards card arrives, their first purchase will generate a month of World of Warcraft subscription time. Subsequent purchases will accrue gametime at a rate of 1% of every dollar in qualifying purchases, so it's no surprise the product is being marketed as "the card that pays you to play". The WoW card has an introductory APR of 0% for the first twelve billing cycles, after which it reverts to a variable rate of 9.9% or above.

The WoW Rewards card comes a month or so after another games developer, Electronic Arts, announced it is to launch a Sims card, and is surely symbolic of the way ahead for issuers: give people cards that mean something to them, and which they can relate with. Not only does this represent a powerful acquisition channel, and a great way to bond with the cardholder, there's a good chance the card will sit front-of-wallet, too. With the latest digital printing technology, there's no excuse not to actively target affinity groups — however bizarre and off-the-wall their interests.