VERVE GLOBAL: A PR Launch Campaign

The Brief

Mediacraft was briefed to manage the communication and amplification of the acceptance of the Verve Global Card in New York, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

The Challenge

Verve was perceived as cheap and consequently profiled as the payment card for low-income earners. This also meant the Card could not be used internationally. However, the brand grew and became more ambitious. Verve wanted to be profiled for high net-worth individuals and being accepted internationally. To achieve this, a brand extension was introduced – the Verve Global card. With the introduction came the need for a launch.

Our Solutions

Launch was staged as a first transaction event at Swarovski Store in Times Square, New York. Key narrative was skewed to project their acceptability in 185 countries including US, UK and UAE, leveraging their partnership with Discover Financial services. Critical local and international media were engaged to cover the launch. Media beats included news, business, finance, ICT/Tech, brands/marketing across TV, print and online. Photography and video coverage were provided. Multi angled press releases and photos news were sent to engaged media and pitched to others. Inspired articles, interviews and feature were commissioned thereafter.

The Result

In four weeks, Verve Global had over a hundred media mentions across print and online platforms. Stories were picked from countries such as Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe. Three major print media used the photos as front-page stories the next day. Others joined and used the photos in various pages of their newspapers. There was a news mention on Nigeria’s major News channel – ChannelsTV. Following the story pitch to the CNN, the news team requested for an interview with the Group Managing Director of Interswitch and CEO of Verve.