Staying Innovative in the New Digital Age With Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar

Discover the secrets to successful marketing and brand building from one of the industry's top experts, Rajar Rajamannar Chief Marketing Officer of Mastercard. Join us as we explore Raja's fascinating journey from chemical engineer to CMO, discussing how his international background and diverse work experiences have shaped his unique perspective on marketing and brand building.

Learn how to balance B2B marketing, brand building, and creating platforms that give a company a sustainable competitive advantage. Rajar shares his insights on crafting value propositions, creating foundational sales materials for salespeople, and Mastercard's innovative approach to multi-sensory marketing and sonic branding. You won't want to miss the discussion on how Mastercard is responding to the financial services disruption caused by fintech companies and cryptocurrencies.

Finally, get valuable advice on building successful marketing teams, staying in touch with the ever-changing consumer landscape, and establishing relationships with your CEO and peers. Raja shares his personal mantra and wisdom for younger professionals, making this episode a must-listen for anyone looking to level up their marketing game and stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving world of business.

Title: 10 Key Insights from Mastercard's CMO Raja Rajamannar

Mastercard's Chief Marketing Officer, Raja Rajamannar, has a wealth of experience in the field of marketing and brand building. In a recent podcast episode, Raja shares his journey, insights, and strategies for mastering marketing and staying ahead of the curve. Here are 10 key takeaways from the conversation:

1. Transition from traditional advertising to experience-led marketing: Raja believes that traditional advertising is becoming less effective and efficient, prompting Mastercard to focus on experience-led marketing. By curating experiences around consumers' passions, Mastercard has managed to create a differentiated brand.

2. Importance of B2B marketing: Mastercard's primary focus is on convincing banks and merchants to issue cards on the Mastercard network. This requires a strong focus on B2B marketing, including creating value propositions and crafting foundational sales materials.

3. Building strong marketing teams: Raja emphasizes the importance of building a competent, empowered marketing team that can produce outstanding results. This includes not only internal team members but also external partners like agencies and startups.

4. Staying current with consumer trends: To stay in touch with the ever-changing consumer landscape, Raja stresses the importance of continuous learning, reading, networking, and attending industry events like CES.

5. Sonic branding: Mastercard has invested in creating a sonic brand, working with musicians, neurologists, and musicologists to develop a unique sound that represents the company.

6. Responding to financial services disruption: Mastercard has embraced the challenges posed by fintech companies and cryptocurrencies, exploring open banking, partnering with fintech banks, and enabling the use of cryptocurrencies.

7. Leveraging core competencies in new industries: Raja shares how Mastercard is using its expertise in the healthcare space, demonstrating the value of applying core competencies to new industries.

8. Building relationships with CEOs and peers: Raja highlights the importance of establishing strong relationships with CEOs and peers, as well as networking and relationship building throughout one's career.

9. Importance of passion points in marketing: By identifying consumers' passion points, such as sports, music, shopping, and travel, Mastercard has been able to create experiences that resonate with their target audience.

10. Personal mantra: Raja shares his personal mantra, instilled by his mother: You are given a lot of gifts. Try to realize every one of them to the maximum. This mindset has encouraged Raja to be a well-rounded individual and leader, focusing on both quantitative and qualitative aspects of his work.

Mastercard's CMO Raja Rajamannar offers valuable insights into the world of marketing and brand building. By embracing experience-led marketing, building strong teams, staying current with consumer trends, and leveraging core competencies in new industries, marketing professionals can stay ahead of the curve and achieve success in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.

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Key Takeaways:

• 08:57 – 14:26 – The importance of experiential marketing – Over the years, Mastercard has done a great job at building an attractive brand that differentiates through its products, messaging and communication. However, in an increasingly digital world, advertisements continue to clutter our lives, and consumer attention is difficult to grasp. So Mastercard decided to shift towards experiential marketing, enhancing the brand’s possibilities to curate and create delightful and fulfilling consumer experiences.

• 14:26 – 15:40 – Delivering a delightful consumer experience – Experiential marketing focuses on delivering personalized customer experiences. Mastercard conducted global research and came up with 10 passion points they can leverage, like sports, music, travel, philanthropy and the environment. In each one of these passion points, the company curates consumer experiences at scale.

• 15:42 – 18:25 – Multisensory marketing – When it comes to senses, marketers typically focus only on sight and sound. Mastercard wants to deliver a full sensory experience involving taste, touch and smell. For example, the brand delivers culinary experiences by organizing priceless tables you can find in unexpected places with an extraordinary eating experience and food served by Michelin-star chefs. Mastercard also started managing its own restaurants.

• 18:26 – 21:01 – Mastercard sonic brand identity – Mastercard conducted detailed research to understand the effect of sound on the brain. Each sound impacts people’s feelings and emotions differently. So the brand came up with its own sonic branding identity—how Mastercard presents itself as a sound. Rajamannar and his team worked with musicians, neurologists, musicologists and other industry professionals to develop a multilayer architecture of Mastercard’s sonic brand.

• 21:01 – 24:55 – Staying innovative in financial services – Rajamannar believes companies that stay ahead of innovation are the ones that will win in their industry, which is what Mastercard tries to do in the financial services space. For example, the company adopts financial services like crypto and NFTs, but it also goes beyond payments with the Mastercard health care business.