Mastercard believes having a head of risk management for marketing allowed it to shift strategy much faster than other businesses when coronavirus emerged.

By Sarah Vizard

Mastercard’s decision to appoint a head of risk management for marketing two-and-a-half years is looking very prescient right now. While the company could not anticipate Covid-19 and its impacts specifically, it did mean it had a strategy if something that posed a major risk to the company happened.

The risk manager has responsibility for plotting potential problems – for example reputational, financial, privacy – on a heat map to try to determine the likelihood of something happening and what the consequences could be. Then, if a risk materialised, it had a contingency plan for how it would operate.

That plan included knowing who is responsible for what aspects during a crisis, what the chain of communication will be, and the processes the business needs to follow. But also mapping out related risks, for example during coronavirus there has been an increase in cyber vulnerability and cyber attacks.

Mastercard’s chief marketing and communications officer, Raja Rajamannar, believes that having those “building blocks” in place meant it could shift strategy much faster than other businesses when coronavirus emerged.

“We did not anticipate Covid-19 but we still had all the building blocks in place and therefore we could immediately press the buttons and be ready. We got in a very good cadence very quickly and that helped us quite a lot,” he tells Marketing Week.

Mastercard has addressed the challenge of Covid-19 among three groups. First, how it would impact its employees especially given the impact of working from home and people’s worries about job security. Mastercard has sought to reassure staff by promising people there will be no jobs lost because of Covid-19 and no one will be forced back to the office until they’re ready.

It has also looked to be as flexible as possible, carving out times of the day when there are not meetings or calls and giving people space to operate. And to communicate regularly and listen to their worries and concerns.

Upskilling has also been a priority. Online learning has stepped up “pretty significantly”, with Mastercard offering a number of programmes for marketers, some of which are certified and others just about knowledge. It is also offering self-learning for example through internal and external leaders talking about their specific area of expertise.

He says: “This is the time when, as a leader, you have to be extremely empathetic and sensitive to the situation and people’s feelings. Different people take the situation they are in currently in different ways. You need to be sensitive, flexible, accommodating and be with them.

“This is a time when we are trying to support them as opposed to demand deliverables from them. You need to really prioritise people above the tasks. People come first more than any other point in time.”

The second group was its clients – businesses that use Mastercard. Rather than trying to sell to them, the company tried to ask how it could help.

“This is not the time to be selling. We have to reach out to our partners and prospects and say ‘we are here for you, how can we help?’,” he adds. “If you are good with them during the tough times they will be good with you when the tide turns. This is the best way to establish a deep level of trust and relationship with clients and customers.”

The third was its communities, such as entrepreneurs or small business owners. Mastercard has set aside a $250m to help small businesses and promised to provide 25 million female entrepreneurs with the resources they need to establish their companies. For example, it is offering cyber security tools for free that it would usually charge for.

Not ‘going dark’

Mastercard also considered how it was communicating its brand externally. Rajamannar notes the “sea of sameness” in advertising at the moment but is clear now is not a time for the brand to go dark.

It has pulled back on ad spend but is still creating campaigns, including its most recent which shows the reality of people trying to work with their new colleagues – pets and children. And it has shifted its Priceless brand promise online, offering digital experiences such as a video chat with a top chef or YouTube concert with singer Camila Cabello.

“We knew we had to stand out and be different. First we said we will not go dark. Next we said we will try to talk about things that matter to people at this point of time and in a tone and context they can identify with. We are not really trying to push anything specifically but show the Mastercard brand,” says Rajamannar.

Despite the challenges of coronavirus, he is keen there is no momentum lost on the Mastercard brand. It has been slowly rising up the list of the top global brands according to Kantar BrandZ and that is a key measure of success for Rajamannar.

But marketing must also continue to be connected to core business objectives and deliver ROI.

“On all the parameters we track, we don’t want to lose momentum for the brand,” he explains. “We also don’t want to lose the connectivity between marketing and business.

“The framework and parameters don’t change whether it is Covid-19 or not. But what happens is we try to figure out how the mix has to be adjusted to make sure [it is effective]. We have pulled back some level of marketing and advertising spend but we don’t want to lose momentum.”

Shifting consumer behaviour

As countries including the UK and US begin to reopen their economies, businesses, economists and politicians are trying to stay on top of people’s mindsets.

From surveys it has done and behaviour it has seen in countries that are further ahead – such as China – Mastercard sees two key behaviours emerging.

The first are those consumers who “feel a risk ahead” in terms of a recession and are worried about their job. They are pulling back on spend. The second are people who are reasonably reassured they will still have a job and, having been on lockdown, now want to treat themselves.

Rajamannar sees two key trends in consumer behaviour. The first is the clear shift to online in everything from shopping to events. Having seen success from moving its Priceless experiences online, Mastercard plans to keep these running alongside physical experiences. And it expects other businesses to follow suit – whether esports or digital conferences.

The second is the focus on health and wellbeing. Coronavirus is already forcing a shift to more contactless and that will only benefit Mastercard going forward.

“Some of these changes during Covid will be here to stay,” he predicts.

Credit: Marketing Week