MasterCard Introduces Arabic Brand Identity
Initiative reinforces MasterCard’s commitment to effectively engage with Arab consumers in the Middle East and North Africa
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Middle East, 29 October, 2012 – With an objective to create enhanced brand affinity amongst Arab consumers in the Middle East and North Africa, MasterCard, http://newsroom.mastercard.com/ has today unveiled its new Arabic identity.
Reflecting the region’s open yet deeply rooted culture, the new logo maintains MasterCard’s corporate identity but also features alongside the new Arabic brand name. The initiative will lead to enhanced brand awareness amongst potential consumers in addition to helping MasterCard directly engage with Arabic speaking consumers.
Raghu Malhotra, division president, Middle East and North Africa, MasterCard Worldwide, said, “At MasterCard, we take pride in developing innovative and tailor made payment solutions for Arab consumers, many of which have today become industry benchmarks. Our new Arabic identity will reinforce our brand’s leadership position in the Middle East and North Africa and will also help consumers in the Arab world connect better with the MasterCard brand.”
MasterCard has been at the forefront of developing innovative Islamic payment solutions. The recently launched Al Hilal Bank Qibla MasterCard Credit Card is a fine example of MasterCard’s product innovation for a prominent Islamic financial institution. The new credit card is a first of its kind in the world as it incorporates a digital compass, which at the press of a button locates the Qibla, the direction a Muslim must face while praying.
Over the last 25 years, from its regional office in the UAE, MasterCard has achieved major success in this region by leveraging the power of a global brand, superior payments network, broadening merchant acceptance, innovative product solutions and the determination of a diverse team operating across the region.
MasterCard established its regional headquarters in Dubai in 1986. Over the years, MasterCard’s Middle East operations have seen tremendous growth leading to the addition of more new offices: Riyadh (2000), Cairo (2003), Casablanca (2006) and Doha (2012).
In April 2012, MasterCard announced a new structure under which a new global region was created: the Middle East and Africa Region (MEA), comprising of three divisions; Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Sub Sahara Africa and South Africa, clustering a total of 69 markets stretching from Afghanistan to South Africa and from Morocco to Pakistan. This change enabled MasterCard to get closer to its customer banks, merchants and consumers across all these markets out of its Dubai hub.
“Our success over the years clearly represents the importance of this high growth region and the appeal of Dubai as a regional hub for global businesses. MasterCard is committed to accelerating its business pace in the Middle East and North Africa and has been leading the way consumer and business cardholders shop, dine, travel and manage their money by enabling transactions that improve their lives”, concluded Raghu Malhotra.