Priceless! How Mastercard snared Perry, Empire for concert series

14 July 2010

by Christie Eliezer

Katy Perry averages roughly 10,000 people at her shows. So why would she fly 20 hours just to play one Australian show in August? It’s not a dazzling spectacular at Sydney Opera House or on top of Uluru either. It’s to 800 people at the Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne and she's doing it for Debit MasterCard’s Priceless Music Series.

The Mastercard concert initiative is targeted at the 18 to 24 age group, those who either can’t get a credit card or don’t need one, yet need something that can be effectively used overseas and online. MasterCard took a different tack with Priceless. It was to provide a live experience in a small club with an act not available in the Australian market at that time.

Naturally, exclusivity means paying a premium fee, and there’s no doubt that Mastercard can afford to pay. Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun has claimed that they were paid $1 million for their club gig last year. That figure is hard to double check. But as far as Michelle Pilot, VP of Brand Marketing, Australasia, MasterCard Worldwide, is concerned, money is not the major factor.

“It’s not about throwing a lot of money at someone,” says Pilot, who admits that the negotiations to get exclusivity can be long and gruelling. “So much criteria comes into it. We pick someone with a high appeal to the 18 to 24 age group who is not very available at that time. They’re either recording or playing in other markets. That’s who we target. We don’t want to grab them at the end of an existing tour.

“We work with those acts, and help them to achieve what they want to do at a certain time. In Katy’s case, she’s got an album coming out in Australia and it gives her the opportunity to promote it. Most of the acts also like the idea of playing a small club and experiencing that interactivity with the crowd.”

Globally, MasterCard’s marketing took the fresh approach (for a financial business firm) of stressing “values” and “human interaction” over “materialism”. The message not only made the brand resilient during last year’s financial meltdown, but proved successful with Gen Y.

MasterCard’s Australian research shows that its target audience, aside from being tech-savvy and frequent travellers abroad (hence the need for a card that can be used quickly abroad and online) also rates music high in its lifestyle. It wanders around with headphones during the day, and catching gigs at night is a priority. Aside from social network sites as Facebook, their prime targeting is through television. TV is generally not important to this age group but they are highly loyal to specific shows like MasterChef and Video Hits.

Getting the right acts is crucial, Pilot emphasises, especially as they have to reflect MasterCard’s own values. The series kicked off with Bloc Party last year, following it up with Little Birdy, The Veronicas, Empire of the Sun and Robbie Williams. Williams is much older than these other acts, but his following is extremely broad.

This year, a thousand Debit MasterCard users saw Pendulum at Sydney’s Home. “These are acts who achieved their success through their own way,” Pilot points out. “They are genuine talent who made it through hard work. They are not famous for being famous. Katy Perry, for instance, is cheeky. But she is extremely down to earth and a very real person.” Tickets to Perry’s show are a low $49.50. It means MasterCard is covering the production costs.

Its branding is non-existent at the venues. But the pitch is strong on mastercard.com.au/music where the tickets are bought. The site includes competitions where winners go to America for the Lollapalooza festival or the taping of the finale of So You Think You Can Dance.

In the US, where MasterCard’s marketing spend was US$437.8 million in 2008, the company’s reach for the young market is through sponsorship of websites and music festivals, and getting 18 to 24 year olds to do work experience at MTV. It also sponsors the main Grammy after-party in LA and the Brit Awards in the UK.

“I won’t discount doing some of those things here (in the future), says Pilot. “But what we’re doing with Priceless is different from what everyone is else is doing in the market. So we’d rather focus our energies on something powerful like this, than traditional sponsorship. The Priceless series has now got such a good reputation that we now have artists approaching us.”