According to Dutta, the World Cup is one of the pre-eminent and true global properties in sports marketing that Visa needs to be aligned with.
Part of the sponsorship, a major television commercial titled 'Anthem' directed by Jake Scott, the son of renowned British film director Ridley Scott, was launched on 7 December across Asia-Pacific. The TV buy is supported by print and digital advertising plus social media executions to bring the concept alive.
Visa joined forces with Facebook to launch a Match Planner for people to share and keep track of their friends’ viewing schedules through the social media network.
Here is what Dutta has to say about their brand strategy going into the event and how they will eventually measure the effectiveness of their sponsorship commitment.
Dutta also goes on to say he is very committed to Visa's online activities and reckons its the way forward in communicating with customers. "Asian consumers have taken to digital like a duck to water," he says.
Dutta said he cannot predict who will win the World Cup on camera but that he will be supporting England.
Visa has been sponsoring the Olympics Games since 1986 and recently extended its sponsorship until 2020. In addition, Visa has already signed up to sponsor the next FIFA World Cup in Brazil.