During the keynote session, the executive spoke about how its Priceless campaign has evolved over the years. Additionally, the exec touched upon the role that mobile currently plays for MasterCard’s overall strategy.

“The future is not mass marketing, it is a combination of data and analytics with personalization,” said Alfredo Gangotena, chief marketing officer of MasterCard, Purchase, NY.

“Today we understand that billions of people have access to their wallet and mobile phone – and the key thing is to find out where the action is,” he said. “We’re utilizing technology to deliver to your personally.”

Priceless moments
MasterCard’s entire philosophy centers around its Priceless moments campaign, which the company started in 1997.

According to Mr. Gangotena, Priceless moments equal social currency.

Currently, MasterCard’s Priceless campaign is featured in 112 countries.

“It’s all about enhancing the shopping experience,” Mr. Gangotena said. “However, the entire concept has to be built on very strong analytics.

“With the trillions of transactions we have, we can understand very quickly what people do,” he said. “What you buy is a very strong trigger to your personality.

“Personalization is the name of the game. I’m not saying it’s the end of mass marketing, but mass marketing is vast.”

Social presence
In addition to mobile, social media plays a critical role for MasterCard.

Social media offers instant communication and helps consumers connect on a deeper level with the company.

And, nowadays marketers are marrying their mobile and social campaigns.

The mobile ecosystem has changed over the last few years and applications are now not only more sophisticated, but feature location-based technology, as well as payment and rewards mechanisms.

“The power of mobile is so huge,” Mr. Gangotena said. “Mobile phones are here to take over.”

Final Take