Visa’s latest “Typewriter campaign,” created with agency Anomaly, aired during the 2025 Oscars broadcast and invited viewers to consider how a single purchase can unlock countless possibilities of ‘who one wants to be’ (in a clever twist of the brand’s “everywhere you want to be” tagline).
The ad begins with a young woman captivated by a vintage typewriter in a shop window. From there, it follows her journey through multiple paths: becoming a successful screenwriter, launching a popular travel blog, and even needing a vacation from writing about vacations.
Beyond the anthem ad, Visa is extending the campaign with shorter films and influencer-driven content across social platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Here’s what iSpot’s Creative Assessment platform revealed on actual viewer response to the campaign.
The Details:
- The :60 “Typewriter” was very well received by American consumers, with its Relevance/relatability and Attention-getting ability its best features:
- However, the :15 “#Visa helps you be the traveler you want to be” was an even stronger performer, outpacing the :60 as well as card advertising norms (past year) across every creative metric.
- Moreover, this :15 sparked the strongest consumer intent with 51% more/much more likely to consider Visa (+10 pts over norm).
- As a result, there is opportunity for the brand to optimize the budget as well as business outcomes by favoring this :15 spot in forward media plan
- However, the :15 “#Visa helps you be the traveler you want to be” was an even stronger performer, outpacing the :60 as well as card advertising norms (past year) across every creative metric.
- iSpot media measurement reports support behind other creatives in the “Typewriter” campaign on both linear and streaming but none to date for the :15 “Be the Traveler You Want to Be”:
- Based on viewer response and purchase/visit intent levels, shifting support to the travel messaging could have a beneficial impact for Visa.
- While viewers responded to the storytelling in the :60 cut as would be expected, the :15 “Be the Traveler You Want to Be” saw Americans focus on the convenience while still finding the shorter form spot just as empowering as the anthem:
- Comments on “Be the Traveler You Want to Be” reveal how this :15 combined attention-getting settings with a strong and clear message of protection that was nearly universally appealing—to inspire worriless possibilities.
Sample comments on “#Visa helps you be the traveler you want to be” :15
“I don’t travel much, but I value communication and the ability to do so no matter where I am. That obviously includes being able to pay no matter where I am! The idea that Visa wants to enable that is a very worthwhile thing, and that was conveyed effectively by the ad. I really like the sense of reassurance there.”
Male 36-49
“I liked the quick moving scenes. It feels like I’m going on the trip with her. Message was clear and hit on credit card security, which many consumers (including myself) are always concerned about, especially in a situation away from home.”
Male 50+
“I liked the main character as I identify with her. I’ve seen her in another Visa ad about traveling and like the idea of it as I am a single person and like the idea that a woman can have these experiences on her own.”
Female 36-49
“I think the ad was very captivating and intriguing. Made you think of the product and brand to the point where I would be interested in looking up the product and learning more information.”
Male 21-35
“I have a Visa card and didn’t realize it has worldwide fraud protection, which is very attractive to me. I like traveling and get worried about using dodgy-looking devices.”
Female 36-49
“It was really good. It flowed smoothly and was informative on how they protect consumers with their security. It made me feel good about the brand and want to use them.”
Male 21-35
- Modeling of the past three years of Visa ads reveals that the creatives that drive higher consumer consideration stand out by hitting strongly on Relevance and delivering something new/a Change. Attention, Likeability and Information have also been contributive, but to a lesser extent, as seen on the Optimal Profile depicted on the chart (right side) below:
- The first chart also compares the :15 “#Visa helps you be the traveler you want to be” to that Optimal Profile (still right side of the chart) and indicates that this spot significantly overperformed on every key driver vs the historical Optimal.
- Based on this profile, this :15 places (on the left side of the chart) in the upper right quadrant of Visa ads, indicating that it would be expected to drive higher consumer consideration vs other brand ads (as reported above, consumer testing showed an above-norm 51% Top 2 Box Intent rate).
- In contrast, the :60 “Typewriter” aligned reasonably well with the Optimal mix of creative drivers other than Information, pointing to an overall lower (but still near average) persuasive power.
- Armed with this information on each of Visa’s creatives (ads can be pretested to confirm potential even before airing), the brand’s media team is empowered to allocate budget accordingly to optimize business results.
- Note that other brands will have their own unique Optimal profiles.
- The first chart also compares the :15 “#Visa helps you be the traveler you want to be” to that Optimal Profile (still right side of the chart) and indicates that this spot significantly overperformed on every key driver vs the historical Optimal.
- The :15 “Be the Traveler You Want to Be” appealed to a broad audience across age/gender, income, and ethnicity:
- The anthem could also succeed in broad audience media but is likely not worth the added cost given consumer response results.
- The anthem spot saw viewers focus more on the visuals while the :15 “Be the Traveler You Want to Be” allowed the benefits of the product itself to shine a bit more brightly, with both bringing a positive halo to the brand:
- Second-by-second trace reflects the stronger breakthrough ability of the “Be the Traveler You Want to Be” creative while the long, flat engagement line in the :60 reflects some of the ‘long’ and ‘boring’ responses seen in viewer verbatims. This suggests viewers did not need the full :60 to grasp the message/benefit and were not moved by any particular scene (supporting the use of shorter forms).
Ineffective creative, even if delivered to the right audience, results in missed opportunity and performance shortfalls. Great creative delivered poorly also results in failed campaigns.
Schedule a demo to find out how your brand can partner with iSpot to quickly solve both challenges simultaneously, delivering high-performing creative while boosting the effectiveness of planning and in-market execution to achieve—and outperform—campaign objectives.
Creative Agency: Anomaly