Mastercard's CMO argues marketing driven by genuine purpose builds trust, differentiates brands, and ultimately drives profit.
Lead with the larger good, profits followWhen purpose is purely profit the equation becomes ineffective; solving a real problem earned trust and, with True Name, one of the company's most profitable products.
Tiny design changes restore dignity and independenceA name on a card and a notch on its edge changed what customers could do alone — mothers of blind children called it game-changing.
Decency quotient beats ruthlessness over the long termRuthless self-interest can help in the short term, but Rajat says decency gives an enormous advantage over the medium and long term.
Executive SummaryAI
Mastercard's chief marketing officer says marketing exists for three reasons — building and protecting the brand, advancing the business, and creating platforms that differentiate the company — but that it should also be "a force for good", not only a force for growth.
He explains his book Quantum Marketing as challenging every aspect of a discipline whose principles were formed more than six decades back, before social media, mobile phones, the internet or artificial intelligence, and reimagining them for today.
As an example he describes the True Name Card, which lets transgender cardholders put the name they want to be addressed by on the card; banks feared controversy until one bank in Canada launched it, and it is now in more than 28 countries and one of Mastercard's most profitable products.
A second example is a card with a notch on its side — a half hexagon for credit, a V for a gift card, a C for debit — that tells blind users which card they hold and which way up, now issued in more than 35 countries.
A third is an AI-powered app built in Poland after the war in Ukraine drove the largest human migration in Europe since World War II, matching refugees to jobs, schooling and housing; one out of five Ukrainian refugees who settled in Poland settled using it, the Polish government wanted to adopt it, and the United Nations Security Council invited Mastercard to speak on public-private partnerships.
Key Quote
“So we call it doing well by doing good, or marketing is not just a force for growth, but it is also a force for good.”
— Rajat
Key Quote
“And in the area of marketing, like classical marketing, there are many things that are done today which are completely ineffective, they're useless, and in fact, they are even counterproductive.”
— Rajat
Key Quote
“What you find typically is for most companies, if the purpose is all about profit, the equation becomes so ineffective as opposed to looking at the larger good as your purpose, profits will automatically follow.”