In order to get the attention of NYC foodies, and get them to re-think the way they paid, MasterCard had to get their attention. For a limited time, MasterCard offered them the ultimate dining experience.

MasterCard built the world’s first restaurant on a billboard, 25 feet above the ground in the center of Times Square. Exquisite five-course meals were prepared on-site for diners by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson.

Booking for the table was promoted through the billboard itself as well as through a digital campaign with a unique partnership with OpenTable.

Seats were extremely limited, and sold out in minutes – and the billboard received massive buzz and coverage in TV, online, and print publications throughout the 3-week event.

Increasing market share is an extremely high bar for the payment category due to the fact that every percentage point equates to millions of transactions, millions of people. MasterCard however, was able to do it with this effort.

MasterCard cardholder spend grew 10.3% during the 8-week effort, versus the industry 3.9%.

(Source. MasterCard Clearing and PIN. Restaurant Industry data as reported by Spending Pulse.)

Credit cards companies don’t usually get the right kind of buzz. With this effort MasterCard was able to get good will and surpass previous years’ efforts:

• Earned media totaled more than 126MM impressions, over a 25% increase from our initial objectives

• MasterCard led with 30% social SOV compared to Visa 17%; Amex 28%; PayPal 24%

It even became national news. The Priceless Table got top-tier media coverage including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, and ABC News.