Visa, the world’s largest payments card network, is making its debut in this year’s BrandZ Top 100 – in 36th place. It was previously owned by several of its bank members and could not be valued for the Millward Brown Optimor ranking. But in March last year it pulled off the biggest initial public offering in US history and began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. It is one of the strongest global brands, says Joanna Seddon, Millward Brown Optimor’s chief executive, and has a high profile through activities such as its long-standing sponsorship of the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. In this edited interview, Andrew Baxter, senior writer in FT Reports, talks to Antonio Lucio, Visa’s chief marketing officer, who directs all the company’s branding and marketing activities. Mr Lucio has more than 25 years of global marketing and brand management experience at some of the world’s most successful consumer packaged goods companies, including PepsiCo, Kraft General Foods, RJR Foods International and Procter & Gamble. Most recently he was chief innovation and health and wellness officer for PepsiCo, and he joined Visa Inc in December 2007.
Antonio Lucio, Visa’s chief marketing officer
AB: How different is brand management at Visa, compared with the consumer packaged goods companies where you have previously worked?
