Karen’s Daily Two Cents – Week of 10/17

Mastercard new logo

Monday, October 17, 2016:

Banks are getting a front seat in the mobile wallets war. I was presented with an ad on LinkedIn for Masterpass. But not Masterpass – Citi Masterpass. Positioned as the faster way to pay online and “on your phone” using your bank. Caught my attention since the ad used shoes as the item to buy – how did they know?? – which got me to notice the positioning. Subtle, but made the point.

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    Tuesday, October 18, 2016:

    Matchmakers gotta make money but I am not convinced that this one’s a winning strategy. Consumers who use ad blocking software on media sites will be denied access unless they pay a subscription fee to the site. Sure, I get that the ad model for digital content is on life support but so is the subscription model unless you’re really special. I predict a #BusinessModelBackfire.

    Thursday, October 20, 2016:

    Attention. Did I get yours? Good! But that’s frankly the silver bullet for commerce and payments and retail success, I think. In a 24/7/365 world of instant and vanishing and push notifications, there’s always something to distract in an effort to attract. My home screen now looks like a twitter feed and I am not sure that I like it. Inundating consumers with messages is easy – but isn’t going to get them to pay attention. Giving them what they want, and when they want it – will. It’s harder – and harder still when there’s so much competing for their mental bandwidth.