Payment technology giant Visa says it has been putting infrastructure in place to ensure that Olympic and Paralympic venues are kitted out with payment solutions that suit the needs of everybody in attendance.
Through its worldwide TOP sponsorship deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Visa has global exclusivity in the payment services, transaction security and pre-paid cards category up to and including Brisbane 2032.
That means spectators can only use Visa cards or cash to pay for items like food, drinks and merchandise once inside official Olympic and Paralympic competition venues, as opposed to other providers like Mastercard and American Express.
That has been the case since Seoul 1988, which was Visa’s first Olympics as a member of the TOP programme, but has become more noticeable to spectators at Paris 2024 amidst the ongoing shift to an increasingly cashless society.
Speaking to SportsPro, Guy Martin, Visa’s head of sponsorships for Europe, said the company does “a lot of education” to make sure fans “understand what is available to them onsite” at the Games.
He added that “a huge amount of infrastructure” has been put in place to service the venues at Paris 2024 so that “there is an alternative” for spectators without Visa products to make purchases.
That included the installation of more than 40 ATMs at competition sites and pre-paid card kiosks, where fans can load money onto either a physical card or a virtual one using the Visa Go app, which can then be used to make payments at the venues.
Martin noted that Visa had seen “a lot of uptake” for the pre-paid cards because “they’re almost seen as another token of the Games”.
“Just like every other category within the TOP programme, like the Cokes and stuff, you pay for that exclusivity,” he added. “And then we work very hard to make sure that there are solutions for everybody. So I don’t think we’ve felt [any confusion around payments] particularly, and I don’t think we’ve had it historically, either.”
Visa’s role at the Games provides it with brand exposure at the kiosks in and around competition venues, but those are out of shot of broadcast cameras, meaning its visibility is largely limited to those who are physically attending the event.
The field of play at the Olympics has traditionally been free from advertising, but Paris 2024 saw brands such as Samsung, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble secure exposure for their products during live broadcasts, which could lead to other TOP sponsors seeking similar allowances.
Anne-Sophie Voumard, the IOC’s managing director of television and marketing services, recently told SportsPro that the organisation will continue to look for ways to “subtly” and “organically” integrate its partners into the Games.
That is something that Visa, which also sponsors other major events like the Fifa World Cup, plans to explore in the build-up to the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“All of the TOP partners have to work very, very hard with the Olympics due to the lack of visibility on the broadcast, so we do have to work a little bit harder in that respect, but the Olympic rings still resonate incredibly well,” Martin said.
“As with any event, as we go into LA28, we’re going to look at what are the ways in which we can increase that visibility? And we’ll continue to explore that. We’ve had discussions while we’re here [in Paris]. We’ll have discussions right up until the Games.
By SportsProMedia
