Golf resonates well with high spending Mastercard cardholders: Manasi Narasimhan

Mastercard has been relentlessly working towards addressing people’s desire for exploration by offering a similar experience digitally. As its brand promise has always been to deliver priceless experiences that count beyond material things, Mastercard launched its flagship Priceless program in India in February 2021.

Aligning with the same, Mastercard has introduced yet another unique and priceless experience for its cardholders through golf. For the first time in India, Mastercard has sponsored an Asian professional golf event, ‘The DGC Open’. The event just got concluded.  As a presenting sponsor of ‘The DGC Open’, Mastercard boosts a new beginning to Indian Professional Golf. The DGC Open presented by Mastercard is definitely a massive boost for the Asian Tour and will provide its cardholders a unique golf experience, privileged access to major golf tournaments and properties, as well as golf-related savings and promotional offers. With about 15,000 facilities, globally golf is a $84.1 billion industry and impacts nearly two million jobs.

Great opportunities like the DGC Open nudge some critical consumer passion points. The partnership with Delhi Golf Club for The DGC Open by Mastercard is a perfect opportunity to unlock several meaningful experiences for Mastercard cardholders.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Manasi Narasimhan, Vice President and Head, Marketing & Communications, South Asia, Mastercard, speaks about their association with Golf and how they plan to leverage opportunities in a sport like golf and deliver priceless experience to all their Mastercard holders across the country.

Golf is a very niche sport played and watched by a selective audience. So, what prompted Mastercard to be aligned with Golf and sponsor ‘The DGC Open’?

Mastercard has been working steadily towards addressing people’s desire for exploration. Our brand promise has always been to deliver Priceless experiences that count beyond material things. Aligning with the same,we have been curating unique Priceless experiences around nine consumer passion points, that is, sports, entertainment, music, travel, art & culture, culinary & dining, philanthropy, shopping, and the environment.

India as a country has always been very enthusiastic about sports and experiencing a golf tournament is nothing short of a spectacle that stays with fans for a lifetime. It allows fans to experience sports, domestic and international travel, luxury hospitality, and a chance to see their star performers in person. As more amateurs turn into professionals, the popularity of golf in the country is on rise. With about 15,000 facilities, globally golf is a $84.1 billion industry and impacts nearly two million jobs. Hence, we believe that opportunities like the DGC Open nudge some critical consumer passion points. Our partnership with Delhi Golf Club for The DGC Open by Mastercard is a perfect opportunity to unlock several meaningful experiences for Mastercard cardholders.

How does the association with Golf help Mastercard as a brand? What is the brand connection you are seeing through this sport?

Mastercard has long supported golf in many parts of the world through partnerships with the PGA Tour and many marquee tournaments such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Open, and the Mastercard Japan Championship. Our partnershipwith Delhi Golf Club is an extension of this global legacy. The underlying strategic intent is to increase Mastercard’s presence and relevance in India’s golf circuit and promote sports tourism in the country.

Golf resonates well with high spending Mastercard cardholders and prospects. By collaborating with Delhi Golf Club for The DGC Open by Mastercard, we aim to co-create golf experiences that not only bring top talent from all over the world to play in India, but also broaden the fan following for golf in the country. It is also a chance to welcome the global audience to India and showcase India’s beautiful heritage.

Is this a tactical strategy to be part of Golf or will the brand look at a long-term association with Golf in India?

As mentioned earlier, our association with golf in India is an extension of our global legacy. So, it is a strategic move. Therefore, we have also onboarded renowned international golfer, Asian Games gold medallist, and Arjuna Awardee Shiv Kapur as our brand ambassador in the country. Shiv’s presence will help us bring alive unique Priceless experiences around golf for Mastercard cardholders. I can tell you that Mastercard cardholders in India will come across several Priceless experiences, co-created in partnership with Delhi golf club and Shiv Kapur. These experiences include golf lessons, meet, and greet opportunities, and much more.

Mastercard needs to reach a mass audience in India to increase the base with the ME’s and customers. So, in terms of sports and events, what are the other sporting activities the brand is considering?

As I mentioned before, Mastercard believes that sports are a major consumer passion point. Globally, from getting exclusive best seat tickets to getting trained by sports legends, we continue to create a unique and Priceless experience for Mastercard cardholders. We sponsor events such as Rugby World Cup, Major League Baseball (MLB), the Canadian Hockey League, the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour, the Jordan Grand Prix Formula One auto-racing event and several marquee football tournaments. In India, we have a long-standing partnership with the legendary Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni to promote cashless payments among merchants and consumers. The partnership has helped us to build significant trust and belongingness among Mastercard cardholders.

How do you plan to promote events such as Golf and what’s been the overall media strategy of the brand to engage with its audiences?

We will reach consumers via several touchpoints, including social, print, online, and broadcast media, marketing partnerships, OOH activations, and so on. We will use a lot of data-driven insights to choose the right platforms to tap the relevant audience. We also aim to craft bank partnershipsto provide several exciting golf related value propositions to cardholder benefits for Mastercard cardholders.

From an overall media strategy standpoint, we tap a huge audience universe, from cardholders to our customers (banks and financial institutions), to tech startups, to NGOs and other communities. The media and messaging mix is always dynamic, in line with the context, and the nature of our audience.