FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 9, 2004
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rosetta Jones
704.444.3815
rjones@visa.com
Laura Calliari
213.623.4200
lcalliari@golinharris.com
Donald Trump's Visa Check Card TV Prop Up For Bid on eBay to Help Give Youth Jump Start on Financial Education
Visa Offers up Autographed Prop from Trump Commercial to Aid Non-Profit Charity
San Francisco, CA - July 9, 2004 - Visa USA celebrates the success of its national television commercial featuring multi-billionaire business mogul Donald Trump by putting up for bid on eBay, The World's Online Marketplace(R), the object of Trump's desire in the spot – the Visa Check Card. Proceeds from the charity auction will benefit the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, which is a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of young adults.
Located at www.ebay.com/VisaTrumpCard, the Visa Trump card charity auction will run on eBay from July 12-22, 2004. The card is autographed by Trump and comes with a picture taken from the commercial, as well as a letter of authenticity.
The humorous commercial highlights the comprehensive security features associated with the Visa Check Card including Zero Liability and provisional funds policies. These features ensure Visa Check Card users are never liable for unauthorized purchases if their card is lost or stolen, and that their financial institutions will provide provisional funds to the cardholder's account for any unauthorized purchases.
"Visa continues to invest heavily in financial education for consumers," said Stacey Pinkerd, senior vice president of Debit and Prepaid Products, Visa USA. "By benefiting from the success we have had with our current Trump commercial, we are donating the proceeds to the Jump$tart Coalition to help young adults learn better personal finance skills."
"We are delighted that Visa USA and Donald Trump are donating the proceeds from this innovative fundraiser to financial education," said Laura Levine, executive director of the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. "Not only is this a generous offer, but it is also a great opportunity to highlight the importance of teaching young adults personal finance basics, such as money management, financial security and the wise use of credit and debit products."
The ad, called "Rooftop," features Trump learning – the hard way – about the security his Visa Check Card affords him. When a gust of wind blows Trump's card out of his hand from atop Trump Tower, he rushes to a dumpster below to retrieve it. As Trump makes his way to the dumpster, a voiceover explains that Visa cardholders are not liable for fraudulent purchases made with their lost or stolen cards, regardless of their bank account balance. However, this information comes too late to save Trump from a passerby questioning his financial stability upon seeing him digging through a dumpster.
Kompolt was retained to manage the listing. Kompolt is the "go-to" online auction agency for creating successful, high value, and high profile promotional and charity auctions for top brand companies and charities. For more information, go to www.kompolt.com.
About Visa
Visa is the world's leading payment brand and largest consumer payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumer and merchant customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives. Nearly 21,000 financial institutions worldwide rely on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $2.5 trillion in annual transaction volume with virtually 100-percent reliability. Consumers in more than 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accepted at millions of locations worldwide. Within the United States, nearly 14,000 financial institutions issue 429 million Visa cards, accounting for more than $1.1 trillion in annual transaction volume. Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources - anytime, anywhere, any way.
About Jump$tart
The JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy is a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of young adults by developing, disseminating, and encouraging the use of standards for grades K-College; and by promoting personal finance education at home and in school. Jump$tart's mission is supported by 150 corporations, government agencies, education associations and nonprofit providers of financial education across the United States. For more information, visit www.jumpstart.org. This site offers teacher training and guest speaker locators, monthly mini-lessons, links to partner organizations, and helpful tips on budgeting, saving, and investing.
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