The exclusive event, which will be called the MasterCard Priceless Evening, will only be open to MasterCard cardholders. The company has run competitions offering tickets as prizes.
Taking place tonight (Wednesday) at London's Cafe de Paris, the show will be hosted by Denise van Outen and will feature artists including Ronan Keating, Jamie Cullum and Katie Melua. Channel 4 will broadcast it on Sunday at 11pm.
The Priceless Evening, which continues the theme of its 'priceless' brand positioning, marks a step change in the credit-card giant's strategy of sponsoring existing properties such as the Brit Awards, UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup.
Rita Broe, MasterCard's vice-president and head of marketing for UK and Northern Europe, said that the credit-card company wanted to develop a property it could control so it could offer its members 'something more personalised to MasterCard'.
Broe added that holding the event late in the year allowed the company to extend its music credentials beyond its core Brit Awards sponsorship, which is promoted extensively in the run-up to the awards in February.
The idea for the event was developed in conjunction with ad-funded programming specialist Freedom Media. MasterCard has also partnered with Virgin Megastores to offer cardholders a 10% discount off music by the featured artists.
MasterCard ran a Priceless Evening last year - an 80s revival with Tony Hadley, Bananarama and Madness - but it was not televised.
Brand Health Check, page 24.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)