Mastercard Puts the Spotlight on Its Touch Card for the Visually Impaired

Mastercard has released a series of cards whose sides are etched differently, depending on whether the card is credit, debit or pre-paid. This is so that blind or partially sighted people can quickly recognize the cards in their wallets.

The new affordance appears in “Spotlight.” Created by McCann, the ad follows Marjorie (actress and activist Marilee Talkington, a performer with vision loss) through her idyllic community, all the way up to the coffee shop, where she has to pay for coffee. Enter the product shot.

What could be more simple? 

“The Touch Card is Mastercard’s next step towards promoting inclusivity at scale,” says Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s chief marketing and communications officer, and president of healthcare. “By innovating with accessibility in mind, we strive to provide equal opportunity for all to benefit from the ease and security of a digital world.”

This marks the first time the “Priceless” campaign has focused specifically on the blind or partially-sighted, and the film—which includes accessibility features, like Dolby Atmos spatial audio and closed captioning—benefits from collaboration with groups like VISIONS and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). 

It concludes, “Because a world designed for all of us is priceless,” maybe the best use of that tagline we’ve heard so far.

“Spotlight” began running during the Oscars on ABC, and will air on a number of major channels in the weeks that follow.

CREDITS

McCann
Pierre Lipton – Chief Creative Officer
Caprice Yu – Executive Creative Director
Ryan Paulson – SVP Group Creative Director
Chad Baker – SVP Group Creative Director
Ethan Schmidt – SVP Group Creative Director
Pebble Goh – SVP Group Creative Director
Caro Rebello – VP Creative Director
Artur Lipori – VP Creative Director
Aaron Kovan – Head of Production
Judi Nierman – SVP Executive Producer
Liz O’Connor – Producer
Oriol Bombi – EVP Global Strategy Director
Danielle Noto – SVP Group Strategy Director
Veronica Bertran – Chief Client Officer, McCann North America
Mat Cunnell – SVP Executive Account Director
Dayo Ajayi – VP Account Director
Reid Tuomala – Account Supervisor
Katie Reynolds – Senior Account Executive
Karen Phillips – Business Affairs Manager
Eric Johnson aka DJ Bunny Ears – SVP Executive Music Producer

No6
Jason MacDonald – Founder/Editor
Riley Donigan – Assistant Editor
Laura Molinaro – Head of Production

JSM
MPC
Heard City
Henryboy

Mastercard
Raja Rajamannar – Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and President
John McDonald – SVP, Global Integrated Marketing and Communications
Judy Vigiletti – Director, Global Brand Strategy
Patrick Larsen – Brand Strategy, Experience & Design