Elena Dinca, Mastercard: Experiential marketing allows us to deliver truly relevant customer experience

Mastercard Romania has launched several consumer programmes designed to facilitate electronic transactions, while also carrying out internal projects aimed at increasing the sustainability of its operations, including a sustainable cards programme. To learn more about these initiatives, Business Review talked to Elena Dinca, Head of Sales for Financial Institutions, Merchants, and Government Segments at Mastercard.

By Aurel Dragan

Briefly, which categories of consumers do you reach with Mastercard products and services and what specific consumer behaviours have you observed?

Mastercard operates a multi-rail network that includes a unique and proprietary core global payments network and value-added services, such as cybersecurity and intelligence solutions, to allow all parties to transact easily and confidently, as well as other services that provide proprietary insights, drawing on our principled use of secure consumer and merchant data. Our investments in new networks, such as open banking solutions and digital identity capabilities, support and strengthen our payments and services solutions.

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This multi-rail network enables us to connect consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, businesses, and other organisations worldwide, facilitating digital payments and ensuring the safety, simplicity, intelligence, and accessibility of these transactions. Each of these audiences is segmented into different profiles with specific needs. For example, when it comes to consumers, demographics play a vital role in the adoption of digital payments. There are significant differences between consumers in urban areas, who have seamlessly integrated digital payments into their daily lives, and those in rural areas and small cities, where there is still a strong need for investment in infrastructure and education.

Additionally, there are differences between generations, with younger generations being more digitally oriented. However, from a macro perspective, all these groups are transitioning to a more digital lifestyle—each at its own pace.

What does the Mastercard Premium Collection programme mean in terms of service philosophy and why have you adopted such an approach in Romania?

The Mastercard Premium Collection is the company’s first automatic cashback programme in Romania, dedicated exclusively to the Premium card segment. The programme connects cardholders to a national network of partners and brands in a wide range of areas: from fashion and beauty to restaurants, culinary delicacies, and gifts. What sets Mastercard Premium Collection apart from other programmes on the market is that the benefits are automatically applied, requiring no additional action from neither the retailer nor the consumer. This approach allows customers to focus on what truly matters while enjoying preferential advantages that also protect their income; for retailers, it’s an opportunity to enhance the shopping experience for their customers.

The Mastercard Premium Collection programme is built upon two pillars. Firstly, it leverages the functional benefits that Mastercard cardholders enjoy, including access to a vast acceptance network of millions of locations nationally and internationally, secure, and swift payments anytime, anywhere. Secondly, it aligns with Mastercard’s role as a promoter and facilitator of priceless experiences, connecting people with their passions. We want to bring added value to the premium card segment, complementing our customers’ lifestyles with special options and exclusive benefits.

What is the mechanism of this programme?

The Mastercard Premium Collection includes all bank issuers within the Mastercard portfolio in Romania and caters to Premium cardholders of Mastercard Gold, Platinum, World or World Elite cards issued in Romania. To access the benefits, all they need to do is create a user account on priceless.com, followed by registering their card on the Mastercard Premium Collection programme page. This registration grants them access to offers with cashback ranging from 5% to 15%, depending on the specifics of each offer, when using an enrolled Mastercard card for payments. The partner network spans across cities like Bucharest, Brasov, Constanta, Sibiu, and various other destinations, including online distribution partners. The cashback is applied automatically, which means that no further action or intervention is required on behalf of the merchant or the consumer. Each cashback transaction is described as “Mastercard Premium” in the transaction history associated with an enrolled card, making it very easy for card owners to identify and check it. We launched the Mastercard Premium Collection in May with over 50 partners and brands. By July, we had already expanded to 70, and by the end of September our portfolio reached 100 partners.

Another example of a service Mastercard offers to premium customers is the Priceless.com programme. What is unique about this service and what is the idea behind this project and its mechanism?

Priceless.com is our experiential programme for Mastercard cardholders, serving as a means to build customer loyalty, provide added value, and drive engagement. Today’s consumers want to feel valued and special, while encountering minimal friction in their brand interactions. Through the Priceless.com platform, cardholders can access unique online experiences and offers that align with their lifestyles, covering areas such as travel, art tours, culinary lessons, entertainment, and sports activities. Mastercard has been increasingly focused on experiential marketing, as the company has repositioned itself from a credit card company to a technology company with a consumer-centric approach. In addition to enabling purchases anytime, everywhere, we are focused on enhancing customer experience through new product innovations and personalised offers and services, so that the customer experience is truly relevant. Therefore, the benefits we develop for Mastercard cardholders are strongly anchored to their profile and needs. It’s important to note that today’s customer experience is more complex than ever, with data indicating that over 61% of customers are unlikely to return to a brand that doesn’t deliver a satisfying experience. By digitalizing and automating loyalty and benefits programmes, we meet these evolving customer needs and remain relevant.

Sustainability is becoming a standard practice in both the global and the local business landscapes. What does sustainability in the financial sector mean for Mastercard?

In recent years, companies have transitioned towards sustainable business models, leveraging technology as an enabler to achieve sustainable development goals. Sustainability is a key component of Mastercard’s mission to build an inclusive digital economy that is accessible to everyone, everywhere. As a technology company, Mastercard is committed to using technology to advance innovative solutions fostering sustainable transformations across all facets of society. This encompasses stimulating digitalization and the adoption of digital payments and services, thereby enhancing financial inclusion and education, as well as reducing consumer carbon footprints and optimising and monitoring operations for businesses.

We started with our own actions and looked at our own product offerings. While payment cards have a relatively modest contribution to the global plastic waste problem, we nevertheless felt compelled to address this issue. We introduced Mastercard’s Sustainable Card Programme, the world’s first directory of sustainable card materials and information on where to source them for card issuers worldwide. Since its launch in 2018, over 330 issuers across 80 countries have signed up, working in partnership with major card manufacturers to transition over 168 million cards across the network to recycled and bio-based materials. Our commitment is that, starting from January 1, 2028, all newly-produced Mastercard plastic payment cards will be made from more sustainable materials.

In 2021, we launched the Sustainability Innovation Lab, a hub for the development of our environmentally conscious digital products and solutions. More precisely, the Lab focuses on solutions that promote sustainable spending, catering to consumers who seek to take proactive environmental action. It also emphasises increasing visibility and traceability throughout value chains to create products that have a positive impact on both people and the planet. Our goal is to empower businesses and consumers to transform the ways in which they produce, distribute, and purchase products and services, ensuring that both people and the planet can thrive as the global economy accelerates its digitalization.  Another example is the Mastercard Digital First programme, designed to provide consumers with fully digital payment experiences, from card purchase and use to management and engagement, with the option of a physical card. The programme allows customers to apply online and instantly receive a digital card, offering real-time management capabilities and secure online or contactless payments using any digital device. This empowers customers with greater control over their financial management while securely enjoying card-associated benefits and offers.

Last but not least, the Mastercard Carbon Calculator is a tool we’ve integrated across our global network for banking partners. It enables customers to monitor the carbon emissions resulting from their purchases across different spending categories and offers them tips on how to reduce their spending footprint. These insights can help consumers make simple and practical optimisations for more mindful spending.

What are some of the sustainability and ESG initiatives that Mastercard is currently implementing?

At Mastercard, we guide our activity by the force for good principle, so that everything we do enables people and the planet to thrive. We acknowledge that environmental, social, and governance efforts are intertwined with the company’s business, and we’ve channelled our ESG activities into three core areas: People, Planet, and Prosperity. On the People vertical, we are focused on empowering people to reach their full potential, while promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion at workplace and in everyday life. On the Planet front, we are dedicated to preserving the planet for future generations, supported by our commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 and initiatives such as the Priceless Planet Coalition. The Prosperity pillar underscores our efforts to create a more sustainable world with a digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere. Our commitment includes bringing 1 billion unbanked people into the digital economy by 2025, supporting 50 million small businesses globally, and empowering 25 million women entrepreneurs.