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Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

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Youth cards are a growing marketing opportunity

Prepaid cards that carry network brands such as Visa or MasterCard are gaining in popularity as gift cards for younger consumers, according to the latest Cardbeat report by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG).

The survey found that 42% of consumers had received a network-branded or open-loop gift card, compared to 67% who had received a store-specific gift card, representing a significant increase since the 2005 survey in which only 26% had received open-loop cards.

According to Cardbeat editor Nancy Stahl, this success comes - perhaps ironically - at a time when prepaid card issuers are increasingly trying to distance themselves from simple gift cards.

The US-based 'CARD Act' legislation (which regulates fees and expiry dates on gift cards) does not apply to general-purpose prepaid cards, and marketers of network-branded cards are working hard to reposition the product in the consumer's mind.

"However, card issuers have not yet made much headway," explained Stahl. "General-purpose stored value cards have the potential to replace traveller's and payroll deposit cheques in the same way that gift cards replaced paper gift certificates, but fewer than 10% of US consumers have actually used a prepaid travel or payroll card."

An increasingly popular variation of the general-purpose reloadable card is aimed at teens and young adults - a market may be poised for growth, according to Stahl.

Indeed, although familiarity and usage of youth-oriented prepaid cards were low, parents in the survey were relatively receptive to the concept. About one third were quite positive, and another third were willing to consider the product.

Parents liked the idea of their child having a card to use in an emergency (64%) and felt that the card offered greater security for their child than carrying cash (59%). A current example of such a card is the American Express PASS card, which is competing head-to-head with Visa Buxx.

"Card issuers should emphasize the security benefits, and position such a product as a prepaid debit card, which many consumers perceive as being safer than a credit card," suggested Stahl.


Sources: Auriemma Consulting Group /
The Marketing Factbook.
Copyright © 2010 - 2025 The Marketing Factbook.

    Categorised as:

  • Customer Experience
  • Marketing Know-How
  • Marketing Technology

Have you seen The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook?

This comprehensive and practical guide to the latest ideas in customer-focused marketing hands you over 200 packed pages of strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, practical know-how, facts and figures, and ideas to optimise your marketing strategy, boost sales, market share, increase ROI and profit.

Learn the insider's tricks and techniques to turn every customers into a 'super spreader' for your brand. It's better than free advertising. Once you start this ball rolling, your brand can grow rapidly through word-of-mouth, advocacy, influencers, and customer loyalty. Super-charge your company's marketing strategy, build up your market share, and make more sales through repeat business and customer loyalty.

Find out what works - and what doesn't - and who's succeeded, and how they did it. See how the world's top brands keep their competitive edge against all odds.

The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook walks you step-by-step through the techniques, metrics, reporting, analysis, marketing models, technologies, tools and innovations for successful marketing strategies - both traditional and emerging - with expert guidance from thought leaders in every major market. Find out the best ways to gather, analyse, and act on customer data to increase profitability, build your brand, empower your customers, beat the competition, reduce churn, and increase customer profitability. This is a marketing book you simply can't afford to be without.

This book aims to hand you all the facts, figures and research data you need for the best decisions for a more profitable, more engaging marketing strategy. It also highlights all the facts, forecasts and trends identified by our experts from the global Marketing Factbook's vast database of market data, news, studies, research and articles, and presents you with an invaluable library of ideas and practical support you can call upon at will.

With The Customer-Focused Marketing Playbook at your side, you'll have instant access to a true goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, research and market data, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid, profitable marketing strategy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)
 
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