• by Tanya Gazdik , May 24, 2011

Visa is launching a travel-themed integrated marketing campaign promoting itself as the preferred way for consumers to pay for travel.  

Social media engagement continues to play a significant role in San Francisco-based Visa's ongoing U.S. marketing efforts. The campaign gives travelers a new tool to share their experiences through a Facebook application, Memory Mapper, which uses Google Maps satellite technology and a person's own photos, videos and captions to chronicle a visual story of their travels for a unique keepsake to share with friends and family.

With the app, consumers are able to upload photos and videos, input the locations in which each image originated, write captions, and add music to create a virtual keepsake of their adventures to share with family and friends via Facebook, email and Twitter. Additional features include exclusive travel-related merchant offers and a public gallery of recently uploaded Memory Maps.

The campaign was developed to connect with travel enthusiasts and drive preference for and usage of Visa products during the peak travel season, says Alex Craddock, Visa's North American chief marketing officer.

"Understanding that travel is an inherently social experience, and that consumers turn to friends and others for ideas and recommendations, and later want to share their travel experiences online with others, we've created a unique promotion and compelling social media tool that enhances a consumer's travel experience from planning to sharing," Craddock tells Marketing Daily.

Additional campaign elements include national TV spot that follows the real-life Igloi family of four as they surf first on the shores of their home state of California and later in Teahupoo, Tahiti. The commercial brings the Memory Mapper to life using satellite map views of each location they visit in combination with photos and video of their dream vacation. The commercial also highlights the "Trip of a Lifetime" sweepstakes (the top prize is a $100,000 dream vacation) and encourages viewers to visit www.facebook.com/visa to engage further with the campaign.

Travelers will also meet the Igloi family in a series of digital videos and banners across social networking channels such as Facebook, Flickr and Photobucket, online travel merchants and services including Orbitz.com, and popular online media channels DailyCandy and Yahoo.com. At each point of engagement, viewers will be encouraged to use their Visa card for an entry to win the sweepstakes and to use the Memory Mapper to share their experiences with their social networks.