Our mission was to increase credit card usage among Japanese overseas travelers. However, there was a large barrier: the Japanese strongly believe that 'cash is king'.

When travelling overseas, over 70% of Japanese travelers exchange enough foreign currency to cover their entire budget prior to departure, without clear reasons for doing so.

No matter how much Visa proclaimed the superiority of credit cards, stating, 'It’s a better deal. It’s safe', this style hadn't changed for decades.

We decided to take a completely different approach. We chose to appeal to the 'MOTTAINAI' aesthetic (a sense of regret for wastefulness) that is deeply ingrained in the Japanese. We focused on the unspent foreign currencies that are lying around people’s closets, and called this 'Closet Currencies'. All travelers can related to this seemingly small amount of waste. In fact, a study found that over a total of $16 billion dollars’ worth of foreign currencies are lying unused in Japan.

Over-exchanging currencies is creating a large amount of waste.

This information stimulated Japanese people’s sense of 'MOTTAINAI', and spread quickly. It was picked up by news and other TV programs, newspapers, magazines, websites, and SNS with a media exposure equivalent of $4.5 million dollars.

As a result, the number of people who exchange cash for their entire budget was reduced 10%. With Visa’s dominant share of the market, it goes without saying that this 10% contributed greatly to their sales.

In our research, over a total of $16 billion dollars’ worth of foreign currencies are lying unused in Japan. At first, we spread this fact to the reliable media, such as newspaper, as big social news. And then, we spread these articles to the other media, such as TV, magazine, with the context that travelling with much cash is wasteful and old.

This information stimulated Japanese people’s sense of 'MOTTAINAI', and spread quickly. It was picked up by news and other TV programs, newspapers, magazines, websites, and SNS with a media exposure equivalent of $4.5 million dollars.

As a result, the number of people who exchange cash for their entire budget was reduced 10%. With Visa’s dominant share of the market, it goes without saying that this 10% contributed greatly to their sales.