PayWave card to launch in London

Visa Europe is dropping its “Love every day” strapline in a heavyweight outdoor campaign to launch its contactless PayWave card.

The credit and debit card provider is thought to be spending more than £1m on a London-centric campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi. It breaks in late September with an initial sixto eight-week burst of activity.

The ads will be focused in and around commuter hotspots, including Canary Wharf, Liverpool Street, Bank and Waterloo. It will also run advertising on the London Underground. The media planning and buying is through Mediaedge/cia.

Visa Europe senior vice president of brand management Joe Clift says the campaign will be “impossible to miss” in central London and the City.

The campaign aims to educate consumers how PayWave works and on its ease and speed. The ads will have the strapline “Visa PayWave. The fastest way to pay”, but will also include lines such as “pay in under a second” and “just wave and go”. Clift adds: “It is a strong, graphic treatment which is bright, bold and gives a message of speed.

Both Visa and Mastercard are launching “contactless” cards with member banks, which allow users to pay for purchases of up to £10 by “tapping” special terminals without signing or entering a pin number.

The systems will launch in London in October, with a national roll-out expected next year. Last week it was announced that 1,000 retailers, including Eat and Yo Sushi!, would offer contactless payments in the capital from the launch.