The Stackpile

It’s a new world out there for kids these days. No more asking for a couple bucks from their parents, no more chores for 10 cents. Instead, Mastercard is providing them with a prepaid debit card. Essentially it is a reusable gift card but so much cooler! Facecard is the new thing, it is a debit card that you can sign up for online and allows you, or anyone else, to transfer money onto the card from a bank or your paycheck. Kids must be going around giving out their Facecard number to friends and families for their birthdays, graduations, etc.

Though this is a very simple idea, I think the marketing behind it is very interesting. Facecard is being promoted on Facebook, MySpace, concerts, and colleges. Banks and Credit Card companies have been looking for new, innovative ways to target this age group with an age appropriate item, and I think this simplicity is making the way. Facecard will email or text specific people about special promotions that their demographics, which they received from signing up, would be interested in, like sales, clothes, music, etc.

Even though this is a not a novel idea, it opens the doors to marketing financial products to this age group. The age group in which print, tv, nor direct mail are effective.

The website itself is very cool, check out Facecard!

Posted by Nirali on December 1st, 2008
Filed under Banking, Marketing | No Comments »