TBWA\Chiat\Day handled creative, Mindshare worked on media and Golin provided PR support. Discover will continue rolling out new “Especially for Everyone” ads that promote the wide acceptance of its cards, Murillo said.
Exclusive for Ad Age All Access subscribers: Ad Age’s profile of Discover including ad spending and marketing spending over time
Market share
Discover is one of the four major credit card networks alongside American Express, Visa and Mastercard. Each operates a communication system that banks and businesses rely on to process credit card transactions.
Of the four, Discover has the lowest market share as determined by global purchase volume and credit cards in circulation, according to an Oct. 18 report from Motley Fool Money that compiled data from the American Bankers Association, Federal Reserve and the Nilson Report.
There are 71.5 million Discover credit cards in circulation around the world, accounting for 2% of all credit cards in use, according to the report, which found that Discover cards made up $256 billion of global purchase volume in 2023, giving it a 1% share. As the next largest network, American Express has nearly twice as many credit cards in use that made up $1.7 trillion, or 9%, of global purchase volume last year.
Visa and Mastercard boast much higher figures but operate on a different model. Discover and American Express are closed credit card networks, meaning they issue cards directly to customers. Visa and Mastercard are open credit card networks that allow financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase and Citibank to issue their credit cards to customers.
Discover also offers debit cards and online banking services.
Discover waits on big changes
Discover is currently in a transitional phase as it waits to be acquired by Capital One for $35 billion. Should the deal surmount antitrust regulatory concerns, the combined company would surpass JPMorgan Chase as the largest credit card issuer and would have $250 billion in outstanding credit card loans, the New York attorney general’s office noted in an October court filing. The combined company would have a market share of more than 30%, said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Analysts expect that Donald Trump’s election should create a lax regulatory environment that eases the deal’s completion, Bloomberg reported. Capital One has said the deal is scheduled to be completed early next year, per the report. It’s currently pending approval from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
“Until that is all approved and the companies do come together, if that happens … we’re competitors,” Murillo said, declining to provide details about how Discover is adapting its marketing function for the completion of the deal.