Don't be surprised when your PC, cell phone or PDA makes a swoosh sound when
using your VISA card. This week VISA International announced it has introduced
a new animated logo with a unique sound similar to the familiar Intel logo. The
new animated logo and sound will signal that a VISA product is being used for
payment where a physical payment card may not be present, such as personal
computers, mobile phones or personal digital assistants. In commerce channels,
the VISA sound and the animated VISA brand acceptance logo (flag) will appear
for approximately two seconds as a transaction is made. VISA says the
VISA-branded sound will be associated with the VISA brand exclusively to signal
it as the best payment choice in this new world of u-commerce. U-commerce, or
"universal" commerce is VISA's vision of an emerging payments future where
commerce can be conducted anywhere, anytime, anyway, with a variety of new and
emerging payment devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and set-top boxes. One of
VISA's marketing partners, MedicinePlanet, will be the first online company to
incorporate the new VISA animation and sound into its payment process. The
sound and animation for the VISA brand were created by AGENCY.COM and Animation
Dynamics.