Visa Unveils Two Real-Time Congratulatory Commercials Following Gold Medal Performances by Team Visa Athletes, Kerri Walsh & Misty May-Treanor and Allyson Felix

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 09, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) --Visa, a Worldwide Olympic Games Sponsor for 26 years, introduced two new congratulatory advertisements last evening celebrating three-time Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor and first-time individual gold medalist Allyson Felix. Kerri and Misty secured their third consecutive beach volleyball Olympic gold medal and Allyson captured a gold medal in the 200m sprint.

The spots, entitled "Congratulations Kerri and Misty" and "Congratulations Allyson," both aired on NBC following their respective medal performances and featured real video and photo cheers from fans in the U.S. who had submitted their support of these Team Visa athletes via Visa's Cheer application on Facebook. The commercials include actual event footage from the London 2012 Olympic Games.

"We're honored to celebrate these Team Visa athletes' remarkable and memorable performances through our real-time Go World congratulatory commercials," said Kevin Burke, global CMO of core products for Visa, Inc. "Fans have expressed their overwhelming support of Team Visa athletes around the world, including Kerri, Misty and Allyson, and featuring some of them in our ads truly illustrates the impact and importance cheering has on inspiring and motivating Olympians in their quest for greatness at the Olympic Games."

Visa introduced its first congratulatory commercial celebrating Team Visa performances at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, following Michael Phelps' win in the 200 meter butterfly. Visa continued this tradition during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games with four US congratulatory ads and again at the London 2012 Olympic Games. During London 2012, Visa unveiled a new spot for longtime Team Visa athlete Michael Phelps ("Congratulations Michael") immediately following his gold medal win in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay, which made him the most decorated Olympian of all-time.

Visa's Olympic Games-themed integrated marketing campaign for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - Go World - is the largest global and most social initiative in company history. The campaign, activated in more than 70 countries, utilizes popular social media platforms, along with television and digital advertising and usage promotions, to turn the passion of fans into online cheers that will help inspire athletes worldwide as they compete at the Games.

The campaign has generated more than 53 million cheers for Team Visa athletes preparing for and competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Visa reports that the top seven most-active "cheering" countries are the United States, Brazil, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Australia.

Fans can continue to voice their support for Team Visa athletes still competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the form of cheers by submitting photos, videos and text cheers, performing one-click cheers, and viewing content through Visa's Cheer application on Facebook and by viewing and sharing video content on YouTube.

Kerri, Misty and Allyson are members of Visa's global athlete support program, Team Visa. For the London 2012 Olympic Games, Visa is supporting 69 Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls (Team Visa London) along with national teams from more than 30 countries, providing financial support and valuable marketing exposure to assist them in pursuit of their Olympic and Paralympic goals.

To learn more about Go World or to view and download images, videos and other assets, visit www.visa.com/olympicmediakit.

About Visa Inc.

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks--VisaNet--that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

SOURCE: Visa

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