Visa offers Olympic fans and athletes innovative payment experience
Worldwide TOP Partner Visa unveiled three new wearable payment devices. As excitement builds for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, Visa has created NFC-enabled payment gloves, commemorative stickers and Olympic pins that allow fans and athletes to complete seamless and secure payments with a simple tap at any contactless-enabled terminal.
“We are looking forward to transforming the payment experience for everyone who attends the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. At Visa, we have been working tirelessly to ensure all of the Olympic venues are equipped with the very latest payment capabilities to provide the best experience possible for all those on-site.” Iain Jamieson, Korea country manager at Visa.
Commemorative Olympic pins
Inspired by the long-standing tradition of collecting commemorative pins at the Olympic Games, four unique lapel pins featuring custom PyeongChang 2018 designs were created to offer a payment-enabled collectable for fans and athletes to use on-site.
Payment-enabled gloves
The average temperature in PyeongChang being – 4.8°C during winter, payment glove will offer fans a way to pay safely and securely without having to get cold hands. The gloves contain a dual interface chip housed with a contactless antenna capable of completing purchases throughout official Olympic venues and compatible readers globally.
Wearable stickers
With a thin and flexible adhesive design and an embedded dual interface NFC-chip and antenna, these micro-tags can be attached to almost anything to make seamless payments in a moment’s notice. The collection includes eight distinct designs, including Soohorang – the official PyeongChang 2018 mascot – the Korean flag, and much more.
“Growing up in South Korea, I am proud that my home country is hosting the Games, and is using this opportunity to introduce Visa payment innovations to the rest of the world. These payment gloves provide a hassle-free way to pay, even when it’s cold!” Park Seung-Hi, South Korean Olympic speed skating and Team Visa athlete.
Visa teamed up with Lotte Card, the financial arm of South Korean-based retail giant, Lotte Department Store, to produce and make these new prepaid payment wearables available for purchase in Korea.
As the exclusive payment partner of the Olympic Games, Visa is facilitating and managing the entire payment system infrastructure and network throughout all Olympic venues. This includes more than 1,000 contactless point-of-sale terminals capable of accepting mobile and wearable payments.
Visa International has been a Worldwide Olympic Partner since 1986, when the company joined the TOP Programme as a charter member. Visa is a leader in internet-based payments, and is pioneering the creation of u-commerce, or universal commerce – the ability to conduct commerce anywhere, anytime and any way.