Bringing a payment method nobody in the country had used yet to market: TV, digital, LED screens and indoor, 18 Tajik-language creatives and a communication broken into seven barriers rather than one slogan.
Mastercard and Alif Bank were launching Apple Pay in Tajikistan — a payment method nobody in the country had used yet. This is not an awareness brief: people need to be told why it matters, shown how to add a card and taken through to a first purchase. The window was two months, and the audience was both narrow and scattered: iPhone owners, cardholders and mobile banking users across Dushanbe, Khujand, Bokhtar and Kulob.
When you are teaching new behaviour, one message is never enough: every person has a different barrier — some do not see the point, some fear for their security, some simply lack the habit. So we broke the communication into seven message blocks — product value, speed, how to pay, how to add a card, online and in-app payments, security and cashback — and built separate creatives for each. The second decision was language: all 18 creatives ran in Tajik and the Russian versions were excluded from rotation, because mass reach in the regions comes from Tajik. The third was shaping the mix around teaching rather than raw reach: over half the weight went to digital, where the mechanics can be demonstrated and response measured, while TV, LED and in-store screens carried the news of the launch itself.
We mapped the communication onto seven barriers — from why it matters through to security and cashback — and built 18 creatives with sequential rotation. Each creative was set up separately in Meta, Google and Yandex so response could be read block by block.
Russian creative versions were pulled from rotation. A debatable call for the capital audience, but mass reach in the country comes from Tajik — and the response confirmed it.
Digital took over half the weight, because that is where user action is visible. TV took the second largest share across four channels. LED screens in Dushanbe and screens in supermarkets, malls and the airport added contact close to the point of payment.
We monitored the ad accounts daily, moved budget between platforms by actual cost per click and refreshed creatives as they fatigued. The campaign closed almost exactly on the planned budget.
A payment method new to the market, launched in two months. The communication was broken into seven barriers rather than reduced to a single slogan, and all creative ran in Tajik, which carried reach beyond the capital. Digital took over half the weight as the channel where user action is visible, while TV and in-store screens carried recognition. Daily account optimisation held the budget almost exactly on plan. Campaign performance figures are not published.
Tell us about it — we’ll suggest the format and scope of work.
A series of campaigns over two years: holiday, summer and product activations. A media mix of TV, digital, OOH and radio rebuilt for each campaign objective, with coverage beyond Dushanbe.
Two seasons on the same logic: TV holds brand awareness, digital builds frequency and contact quality, OOH grows the geography from two cities to seven.
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