VISA My Money Skills - Executive Summary

Running head: Executive Summary – Visa: My Money Skills 1

Executive Summary:

Visa: My Money Skills Campaign

Team 4, UAE:Maria Espinoza,

Timothy “Chip” Lowe Isabella El Sheikh

PUR 4404 CDeanna Pelfrey

University of Florida

Executive Summary – Visa: My Money Skills 2

A. Situation AnalysisWhile the UAE has been highly commercially successful despite its relatively new

establishment as a nation, research from the Genesis Institute indicates that Emiratis aren’t fluent in the language of money – that is, they don’t have the financial literacy skills necessary to manage this newfound wealth. (Maceda, 2014). The ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey, which evaluates the attitudes of Arab youth in six Gulf Cooperation Council states, including the UAE, found that nearly 70 percent of those surveyed are “very concerned” about the rising cost of living, unemployment and the economy. The same survey indicates that there has been a 10 percent increase in the survey respondents’ desired country to live in from 2013 to 2014 in favor of the UAE (“Arab Youth Survey,” 2014). And these concerns are understandable, considering the 2010 survey indicated that 70 percent of Emirati young adults are in debt (Glover, 2012). These reports present a state of young people eager to better their country and responsive to new and changing economic environments.

Visa capitalized on the opportunity to engage young citizens in the UAE with regard to financial literacy. As part of Visa’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment, the company has recognized it has the responsibility and opportunity to affect change in a huge number of consumer’s lives. According to Visa’s 2012 Financial Literacy Programmes overview, their guiding principle is to “provide economic empowerment to consumers who use [their] products or services.” The company has been committed to financial literacy commitment and has been actively engaging consumers worldwide for over a decade with this CSR objective. Therefore, the need for Emirati financial literacy education expansion met hand in hand with Visa’s desire to expand their CSR to the Middle East region.

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates, which is a territory or state under the jurisdiction of an emir. The UAE became independent in 1971, and its capital, Abu Dhabi, is one of the centers of commercial and cultural activities and is the largest and most prosperous emirate.

The largest public relations association in the Middle East is know as the Middle East Public Relations Association. It was launched in 2001 and was officially licensed by the government in 2002. Most of the largest professional agencies have their headquarters in Dubai. Outside Abu Dhabi and Dubai, practices are less professional due to the scarcity of skilled and trained professionals, even though there is a very high demand for skilled professionals. The Internet is a very large and resourceful tool for public relations practitioners in the UAE. The study of public relations in the UAE is starting to produce skilled professionals with their educational facilities growing and developing.

Public relations in the Middle East has been influenced by the development of media and growth of the hospitality and tourism business sectors. When working with the media, gifts and other contributions to media professionals in exchange for positive editorial coverage is almost expected and the practice of publishing news releases word for word is customary.

The government plays a very crucial role in the production of the media in this region. The constitution in the UAE provides for freedom of speech but the government uses its judicial, legislative and executive powers to limit those rights. UAE Federal Law No. 15 authorizes the state to censor both domestic and foreign publications prior to distribution, and prohibits criticism of the government, rulers and ruling families, and friendly foreign governments. The media is completely owned by the government, with the exception of a few privately owned


newspapers and radio stations. Because of this, the media relies heavily on advertisements and sponsorships to keep revenue flowing.

Reports tend to automatically self-censor what they produce because of the limitations by the government They generally tend to avoid topics including the ruling family, Islam, national security, the government, current policies in place, religion and relationships with neighboring states. This gives little room for creative media stories. In 2012 the government even increased its efforts to silence the media and started arresting bloggers and activists who went against their guidelines and regulations.

The UAE is high-context culture. Being a country with high-context communication means that there is an emphasis on personal relationships, an unwillingness to say, “No” the power of words, politeness and indirectness. The Arab culture in general emphasizes personal relationships and interdependence, and therefore group members in the nations are on the same level of understanding. A focus on the interpersonal relations mean there is often more of an emphasis on what someone wants to hear rather than on directness and honestly. This is due to the fact that families have lived in the same communities in the UAE for centuries and so they believe it is important to not offend another person or their family. Politeness is an important characteristic of Arabs. They believe in always treating another person, especially guests, with the utmost respect and courtesy,

Arabs are said to value the elegance of the spoken word. It is said that they have a love affair with language and place a great emphasis on the importance of words. Arabs use a lot of hand gestures and speak loudly with emotion. Shouting is believed to denote ultimate sincerity. They are also big fans of praise, except to Arab women.

The UAE scored a 69 on the Corruption Perceptions Index. The scale ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 indicating that the country is perceived as very clean and not corrupt. According to the corruption perception index of 2013, the UAE falls within the one-third of total countries that score over 50, meaning they are less corrupt and serve as a reminder that there is very little abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery that go on within this country. This entails that Visa can, not only safely proceed with business in this region of the world, but also honestly go on with the work that is being done. Being a company that deals primarily with payment processing, it is extremely important to be able to trust one’s clients in their endeavors.

UAEInteract cites that the UAE economy is thriving and the country is blossoming with opportunities for business to do well in this region. The site explains that there are low import duties, there are no restrictions on profit transfer to capital repatriation, minimal financial risk and labor costs are competitive. This information supports the perceived CPI and supports Visa’s success in this country.

B. Primary Publics/AudiencesVisa identified their primary audience as young students throughout the UAE. By

working through education institutions to launch the campaign, Visa successfully connected with their intended audience and properly limited the scope and access to the intended audience for the financial literacy tools.

Visa piloted the program with three school and summer schools in the UAE in the 2012-2013 school year. The company developed a toolkit to provide to educators at the institutions participating in both Arabic and English. In order to ensure that teachers acting as program coordinators were familiar with the skills and Visa-compiled materials, the company hosted


regional workshops to familiarize them with the campaign (“Visa: Financial Literacy Campaign,” 2012). It was important that Visa took the time to localize the program the UAE and also held workshops and utilized the feedback from those workshops to improve the program in the future.

C. Overview of the CampaignVisa brought its successful My Money Skills campaign to the Middle East region,

premiering in the UAE. Visa’s financial literacy CSR goals are: (1) “[To] empower positive economic growth for individuals, businesses and countries.” (2) “[To] provide free, relevant, accessible and innovative financial education to individuals and their communities.” (3) “[To] facilitate entrance into the banking system for the unbanked. And (4) “[To] reach 20 million people globally by May 1, 2013” (“Visa: Financial Literacy Campaign,” 2012).

To achieve these goals internationally, Visa set forth some general tactics in their worldwide campaign overview. These include “[running] a global financial literacy initiative that is localised for each country, allowing for customisation based on an area’s level of economic development, cultural standards, education needs, government priorities and target audiences; personal finance message and mediums tailored for each region; and third party partners [such as governments, schools, banks and NGOs that] are actively engaged to improve reach, awareness and impact of educational programmes” (“Visa: Financial Literacy Campaign,” 2012).

The campaign facilitated working with educational institutions and teachers in the Emirates to develop location-specific financial literacy teaching tools. The financial literacy program was then integrated into school curriculums. Visa created education websites, in both Arabic and English, that teaches finical basics such as budgeting, saving, bank account management, using cards wisely, online shopping precautions against fraud and preparing for the future. Visa also initiated an educational video game called Financial Football, which was first launched in the Middle East. Visa featured a free FIFA World Cup video game on their My Money Skills website, that was designed to help people of all ages strengthen their knowledge of personal finance. Financial Football is a fast-paced educational video game that tests players’ knowledge of financial management skills as they advance down field and try to score goals.

Visa evaluates their worldwide efforts, and in regards to this campaign in the UAE, they sought feedback from the institutions and teachers that participated in its implementation.

D. ImplementationVisa launched the My Money Skills campaign website, their major online hub for the

campaign, in both Arabic and English in the UAE. The website features budgeting, saving, bank account management, using credit cards wisely, online shopping precautions against fraud and proper preparation for the future. One of the most resourceful tabs is Education under Life Events. This specific section includes a personal finance “crash course” for all ages on being money smart for making better decisions. The section, entitled a “Practical Guide to Financial Literacy,” includes five lessons, quizzes after each lesson (with an answer key at the end of the document) and a glossary of financial terms. The campaign site is filled with fact sheets and FAQs on finances. The site was created to easily navigate around into educational programming from financial advice to calculations already set up for the user. Educational games through the site test the user’s knowledge in finances, including interactive quiz shows and soccer games. All these educational materials are provided to target Visa’s primary audience, students and consumers handling financial decisions.


Visa’s global presence throughout social media websites includes Facebook and YouTube. Visa’s Middle East Facebook covers the most current events around the region, while Visa Financial Football provides visual credibility of the campaign through photographs and video of students in the schools the game was implemented in. Visa hosted a Facebook poll, gaining 19 votes in total, all of who agreed on the need of children being taught money management skills at schools. On YouTube, one can find members of the campaign providing informative advice, educational lessons and info on the Financial Football game.

Press releases of the financial literacy summit at which the campaign was launched were handled by DABO & Co. These were disseminated through the Visa CEMEA region website and to appropriate media. The National, a newspaper in the region, ran an article with detailed information about the pilot year. Other components of the campaign included a planned National Financial Literacy Day and regional roadshows in shopping malls. In 2012, Visa and the Financial Times hosted a series of Financial Literacy Forums. This was the third to be held in Dubai, stressing the importance to promote financial education in emerging wealthy economies like the UAE.

Teachers were identified as a secondary audience in the campaign. Visa created materials branded with a financial wizard called SuperCal, or Mahsoobak in Arabic, and a dual-language Financial Literacy Toolkit to show students that it is fun and clever to be financially literate.

The Circuit of CultureVisa’s My Money Skills campaign in the UAE goes through the five moments of the

circuit of culture. The My Money Skills website creates a base of representation for all the educational programming information for students and consumers. The campaign produced educational materials provided in curriculum form given to professional educators and teachers. The dual language Financial Literacy Teacher Toolkit and financial wizard helped teachers tackle the subject with confidence in a classroom environment. In addition to other materials, the interactive games and practical guides to financial literacy test the targeted audience on financial knowledge. They are able to continue practicing financial knowledge by playing the Financial Football video game and participating through online quiz shows. Students learning on financial literacy are Visa’s future customers. For Visa to continue to be successful, it is to the company’s benefit to teach future consumers of being financial literate when they use Visa’s services.

E. Evaluation of the Campaign The UAE campaign reach over 76,000 people during the first six-month launch period,

according to the case study conducted by DABO & Co. This includes 70,000 unique website views and 6,000 financial football games and brochures distributed amongst teacher and students. The campaign was also featured in over a dozen full or double-page spreads across 16 publications in the UAE, Kuwait and KSA.

After looking at what Visa has been able to accomplish after just one school year cycle, this launch has been an incredibly successful expansion of their CSR to the UAE. The DABO & Co report estimates the PR value of the campaign at nearly $1.5 million.

As Visa looks to continue this CSR in the region, critics may push for more inclusion of banks and other educational institutions in the region. Looking at Visa’s implementation of the inaugural year of the campaign, there doesn’t appear to be any inhibitors that would prevent the company from expanding the program to as many organizations as want to participate and help them carry forward one of their key organizational responsibilities.


F. ConclusionVisa was extremely successful in localizing and implementing this CSR campaign the

UAE because it completed its due diligence and respected the culture in which it already had a business practice. Visa is a known and respected brand worldwide, and the stewardship it has already taken to develop its company in the region undoubtedly paved the way for the huge success they had with this inaugural campaign in the country.

The lessons learned from the study of this campaign could be summed up in stating that to successfully expand a CSR campaign to a new region, one must truly comprehend the nation or area, being respectful of cultural and business practices there. In order to maximize efforts, having a brand presence in the region is preferable. And finally, ensure that the CSR campaign matches the social efforts the company is truly passionate and engaged in. Following these steps learned form the Visa implementation lead any organization or agency off to a viable start.


References

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Glover, F. (2012, June 22). Emirati youth the focus for smart money skills. The National.

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youth-the-focus-for-smart-money-skills

Maceda, C. (2014, May 20). UAE consumers need to invest in financial literacy. Gulf News.

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VISA My Money Skills - Executive Summary

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