Many years ago, I was responsible for Citibank’s credit card loyalty program, Free Gifts.  Not dissimilar to existing programs today, Free Gifts permitted a cardholder to collect points for various activities and redeem them for stuff:  TVs, small appliances, radios and the like.  Today, there are entire websites devoted to helping consumers sift through these programs to find the ones that best suit their needs, and consumers are fairly jaded in terms of finding real value.

With a recent offer, Visa may have cracked the, uh, “value” barrier.

This past summer, Visa offered private toilets to Visa Signature cardmembers attending a music and arts festival in California.  Cardholders gained entry to the ”VIP Signature Lounge” by showing a valid event ticket and their Visa card.

This may, as Springwise.com suggests, be an example of sympvertising: coined by Trendwatching.com, the phrase means to infuse advertising with a true acknowledgement and reflection of the target consumer’s pain points, whether they be falling stock prices, losing a house… or facing the terrifying spectre of using the average smelly porta-potty.

I could go either way on this one.  On the one hand, it’s a clever offer that reflects a typically overlooked and genuine need attendees face at an outdoor event.  It also has absolutely nothing to do with Visa’s core benefits and is unlikely to be remembered.

At the very least, it certainly gives new meaning to Visa’s former tagline ”It’s everywhere you want to be.”