Brand acquisitions help us broaden and deepen our capabilities: expanding in payments, extending our services and embracing new networks.
When we come together in harmony by performing The Mastercard Way, our businesses, our technologies and our people bring fresh perspectives and smart ideas to help us evolve and grow.
OUR ACQUISITION STRATEGY
One of the main questions companies face when they acquire a new brand is whether to keep that brand alive, merge it with an existing brand in their portfolio (i.e. rebrand), or retire it altogether. At Mastercard, we believe the strength of our brand gives us an enormous advantage with near universal recognition and widespread awareness of our capabilities as more than a card company. As such, we leverage our brand and its strong equities from Day 1 of an acquisition.
Transitioning new acquisitions involves careful planning, effective communication and strategic integration to ensure a smooth and successful assimilation. While there are many steps within a thoughtful integration, this guide will focus primarily on how our brands visually unify from Day 1 and ongoing.
For complete guidelines around the journey to assimilate the acquired brand, please refer to the Brand Integration Quick Start guide.
If you have any questions, contact us.
OUR TRANSITION APPROACH
Deciding how to phase the brand transition requires strategic consideration and evaluation of the relative equities of each brand.
There are two possible scenarios for transitioning our acquired brands:
Where the acquisition’s brand equity is low, immediate and full transition to Mastercard is recommended on Day 1. Mastercard product teams, working with marketing and brand teams align on descriptive terminology for the acquired feature, product or service. Learn more about clear and descriptive naming.
Fully integrated acquisitions should look, feel and be named using the Mastercard identity.
If an acquisition holds sufficient equity in the market, we attach our endorsement language “by Mastercard” to the company’s name. The Endorsement Mark retains the primary equities for each company and unifies the font and colors to aid a more seamless transition to Mastercard branding. The acquired brand’s logo immediately converts to the Mastercard font. Exceptions may be considered to extend endorsement branding past year 1 on a case-by-case basis.
Acquisitions may use special endorsed artwork during their transition period.
Following a successful Phase 1 transition period, the acquisition enters Phase 2 in Year 2, and fully transitions to Mastercard. Mastercard product teams, working with marketing and brand teams align on clear and descriptive terminology for the acquired feature, product or service. This terminology will replace the acquisition brand name, therefore, must be effective at capturing the most salient aspects of the acquisition brand. Click the link to learn more about clear and descriptive terminology.
Fully integrated acquisitions should look, feel and be named using the Mastercard identity.
ENDORSEMENT REQUIREMENTS
The preferred mark is used for most applications, i.e., social media, email signature, business cards, Office applications, etc.
Preferred mark
UX lockup
Examples of Mastercard acquisitions in transition
NOTE: The UX lockup mark is used ONLY in web headers and when space is limited.
Do's and don'ts
