Dive Brief:
- Visa has partnered with the Web3 engagement company SmartMedia Technologies to create a Web3 customer loyalty hub, the companies said in a joint Jan. 4 press release.
- With the new Visa offering, business clients can provide incentives within digital experiences such as augmented reality treasure hunts or “gamified giveaways,” according to the press release.
- Brands using the service can offer customers a digital wallet where they can store their loyalty incentives for online and offline travel, sports or other experiences, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Visa’s collaboration with SmartMedia Technologies signals a deeper dive into the Web3 ecosystem, considered a decentralized, next-generation evolution of the Web. In addition to providing customers with digital wallets to store their loyalty rewards, the card network has previously integrated the Solana blockchain and Ethereum into its stablecoin experiment.
“Consumers are looking to engage with brands in new ways, and traditional loyalty programs have not evolved over the past decade,” Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, senior vice president and global head of issuing solutions at Visa, said in a statement. “Our new innovative digital loyalty solution empowers brands to reward customers not only for their transactions but for their active engagement, paving the way for secure, seamless and immersive digital and real-world experiences at their fingertips.”
Other major companies have piloted Web3 and cryptocurrency-related projects, but whether consumers will adopt such technologies at scale remains to be seen. GameStop shuttered its support for cryptocurrency wallets last August, citing “regulatory uncertainty of the crypto space.”
