Visa Everywhere Initiative in Central Asia
Клиент
Visa
Рабочая группа
Irina Nesterenko, Account Group Director, Tayniy Sovetnik
Nurbota Talgatbek, Account Manager, Tayniy Sovetnik
Задача
Issue:
FinTech market of Central Asian countries had no platform that would allow fintech startups to share their ideas with a wide audience, demonstrate their potential, take advantage of mentoring support and reach investors. The partnership between Visa and the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) has become a solution for the issue. Visa and AIFC signed a letter of intent in March 2019 during the Visa Cashless Summit in Almaty and announced the launch of the Visa global project Visa Everywhere Initiative to support startups in partnership with AIFC in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Visa Everywhere Initiative is a global innovation program of the international technology company Visa, aimed at support of startups and development of fintech. The goal of the program is to seek, promote and introduce innovations that meet the promising needs of the financial sector and the retail industry in the world. The project has been implemented since 2015 and currently covers more than 75 countries. Over 4 years, more than 4,000 startups took part in it, 220 finalists received mentoring support, and 70 winners received prizes totaling more than $ 1 million. To date, the volume of investments attracted by VEI startups has amounted to more than $ 2.5 billion. This year, developers from Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region got a chance to prove themselves and offer solutions relevant to the e-commerce market.
Task:
- To organize the semi-finals and finals of the Visa Everywhere Initiative project for fintech developers for the first time in Central Asia
- To develop a communication campaign in the media and social networks
- To ensure media engagement and project announcement
- To draw up and demonstrate the results of the project
- To position Visa as a leading participant in the development of the country's fintech ecosystem, helping the industry move forward and create new high-tech solutions based on the long-term experience of an international company
Decision:
A multi-component communication campaign was developed, which included:
1) The announcement of the project by sending-out the launch of Visa Everywhere Initiative press release
2) Holding a press tour for key media from Central Asia prior to the closing of the project
3) Recording of VOX-POPs with fintech blogger and participating startups in a blitz survey format:
• At the semi-final, the blogger asked about startup projects, ideas and plans
• At the final, a blogger in an informal and humorous presentation found out “How fintech startups really are fintech in real life?”, Do they use cash or non-cash, do they use technologies, how much cash do they have with them, where do they keep money, etc.
4) Organization of a series of interviews with a Visa representative
• Conducting interviews for the online edition of Prodengi.kz, commentary for the Uzbek edition of Nuz.uz and participation in the live broadcast of the ABCTV channel.
5) Conducting a live streaming of the final on the Visa’s Facebook page
• The finals of the Visa Everywhere Initiative project were streamed when participating startups defended their projects and answered questions from the jury.
6) Holding contests on social networks among participating startups
• During the semi-finals, participants were invited to participate in the contest on social networks and get the opportunity to win one of 10 prizes from Visa and AIFC - powerbank or headphones. The contest required participants to post a photo on the background of the press wall on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, to write about participation in the semifinal of the Visa Everywhere Initiative program and to hashtag #visa_aifc. Winners were randomly selected through a random number generator.
• During the finals, participants were invited to participate in the contest on social networks and get the opportunity to win e-books from Visa and AIFC for each person in the team. It was necessary to upload a creative short video or vine “How much I want to win VEI!”, to write about participating in the finals of the Visa Everywhere Initiative program, to hashtag #visa_aifc on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. The winning team was selected by a jury board vote (representatives of Visa and AIFC).
7) Shooting a video about the project
• The final video demonstrates all the stages of the semi-finals and finals - presentation and defense of startups' work, group consultations with mentors, rewarding of winners.
8) Special project on Kapital.kz
• Creation of a branded landing page with a description and results of the Visa Everywhere Initiative project, which will combine on its site the released VOX-POPs with a fintech blogger, a map of the project participants with start-ups, a project video, comments from the organizers and participants of the Visa Everywhere Initiative
• Publication of a review article in a longread format with photos and infographics, placement in top news
• Post about the project on the Kapital.kz Instagram
• Post about the project on the Kapital.kz Facebook page
• Banner on the main page of Kapital.kz, a host for special project
9) Organizational part: development of event designs, production of handouts and site design
Results:
• The Visa’s Visa Everywhere Initiative global project to support fintech startups was first held in Central Asia, Nur-Sultan. During the project, 93 applications were submitted for participation from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Georgia and Singapore. 40 semi-finalists, 20 finalists, 5 winners.
• The semi-finals on May 24 and the finals on July 2 were organized - the design of the Visa Everywhere Initiative was adapted for a local event, merchandising was produced (T-shirts, shoppers, notebooks, pens, mugs), production (stage construction, banner, two press walls, roll-ups, signs), catering was provided for the semi-finals and finals, equipment (LED screen on stage, sound, equipment for live broadcasting, interpreters booth), the work of simultaneous interpreters, a photographer and a videographer.
• 20 people took part in contests on social networks + links
• Web-based media from Kyrgyzstan (Akchabar.kg) and Uzbekistan (Kommersant.uz, Nuz.uz) took part in the press tour, as startups from these countries reached the final.
• 878 people have watched the live stream
• VOX-POPs filmed with fintech blogger Marat Shaken and VEI members for Semifinal and Final
• Special project with Kapital.kz (landing, infographics, review). Kapital.kz views: 75,141 people from July 31 to August 19
• Conducted interviews with Prodengi.kz
• Press releases sent out. Overall publications – 31