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Visa to Evolve Brand to Better Reflect New Payment Opportunities
Payments leader refreshes brand with new brand identity and structure

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 15 March 2005


Visa International today announced plans to refresh and evolve its brand identity and structure. The changes include a new look for the famous blue, white and gold Visa logo and changes to card design features. A major communications campaign will take place between now and the end of the year when the first cards and merchant signage bearing the new logo will start to appear.

"Over the last several years the scope of our business has increased considerably. We were simply a consumer credit card company. Today, debit and prepaid products, commercial payment solutions and processing and authentication services are major components of our business," said Christopher Rodrigues, president and CEO, Visa International. "We need to evolve the way the brand is used to enable consumers and merchants to distinguish between different Visa products and services while continuing to trust Visa to enable them to make efficient secure payments anywhere in the world. We are also taking this opportunity to refresh the look and feel of the brand to ensure it remains up to date and relevant."

The updated brand will work better across new technologies and payment channels, such as the Internet, mobile phones and handheld devices. As well as a refreshed Visa logo on the card and at the point-of-sale, it will allow for a new card format that will complement the issuer's own brand. The well-known Visa dove hologram on the front of the card will be moved to the back and be integrated with the magnetic stripe, making card counterfeiting more difficult while allowing a larger part of the front of the card to be used for new issuer designs or communication.

"These are much more than just design changes," said John Elkins, executive vice president, Global Brand and Marketing, Visa International. "We are introducing a new brand identity and architecture in a cost effective way that will provide more flexibility and value to our members and partners. It will allow for much greater innovation and support our growing number of products and services in the fast growing electronic payments industry."

With more than one billion cards globally and more than 22 million acceptance locations, Visa is planning a gradual transition to the new look. New brand guidelines will be available to Visa member banks and card manufacturers in June while actual card changes will take place over the next three years. Starting in late 2005, banks can issue new cards with the updated design and format while merchants replace Visa signage, such as window decals, tent cards, and cheque presenters. Visa will work with member banks, merchants, vendor partners and law enforcement agencies to explain the changes.

"This is an evolution of the Visa brand that ensures that it stays relevant, innovative and forward-looking," said David Aaker, a recognized authority on global branding and vice chairman of Prophet. "Every leading brand needs to undergo periodic review. Visa is maintaining its key brand equities while expanding meaning and relevance to embrace its new business opportunities. This change very much underscores the leadership role that Visa provides in the category. This is an outstanding example of creative, innovative brand solutions to an expanding business opportunity."

The brand changes represent 18 months of work, based on research among more than 7,000 consumers, merchants, commercial customers and banks in 16 countries worldwide.

Over the past 30 years, Visa has become one of the world's most trusted brands. In addition to cards, the Visa logo appears in shop windows, on the Internet, in mail order brochures, on mobile phones, in TV ads, and at major sponsored events worldwide.

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Note To Editors:

A brand structure or architecture shows how an organization's various brand marks relate to each other and to the customer. The Visa brand structure unifies all of Visa's products and services (such as Visa Gold, Visa Business, Verified by Visa, Visa contactless programs, etc) with a common look centered on a fresh, contemporary design. The new design continues to use many of the successful features from the current Visa design, including prominent use of the Visa brand name, the blue, white and gold colors, and the italicized typestyle. It differs from the Visa mark now seen on cards and at acceptance locations as follows:

The 'V' in Visa has been enhanced with a gold color to highlight the Visa wordmark's unique serif
The word 'Visa' is much more prominent, reflecting research that consumers respond to seeing the word 'Visa' more than to the mark
The banners used as borders in the current design have been eliminated. Research had shown these were confining and reinforced the impression of Visa as a card product. Today Visa is used for payment in multiple ways (in commercial systems, on the Internet, mobile phones etc)
Visa Electron will share the same new Visa identity on the card and at the point-of-sale but will be identified by the word Electron below the Visa logo
In some regions (Europe), 'V' will be used on its own with a different brand name, such as 'V PAY', for business opportunities that reflect new and different ways to pay
The new look highlights the unequalled strength of Visa as a brand name while continuing to utilize Visa's well-recognized blue, gold and white colors.



For more information, visit www.visa.com/brand

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