Visa U.S.A. and Snowball.com have launched a joint promotional campaign for the credit card company's Visa Buxx card, which is targeted to teen-agers.
The promotion will be e-mailed to millions of teens registered on Snowball.com's IGN.com video game and science fiction network, which is aimed at young men, and its ChickClick.com network, which is geared toward young women. Snowball.com said it has nearly 10 million registered users. It did not say exactly how many e-mails would go out.
The e-mail promotion will offer a free, three-month trial subscription to Snowball.com's IGNinsider club to teens whose parents' sign them up for a Visa Buxx card.
The Visa Buxx card, introduced in August 2000, is a reloadable payment card controlled by parents that Visa said is intended to “help parents provide spending money for teens and to help teach teens practical money skills.” The card offers a range of parent-control features, including predetermined spending values and online transaction monitoring. The cards are being issues by Bank of America, Capital One, National City, USBank and Wachovia.
The maximum daily balance available to the Visa Buxx card is $1,000. There is no annual fee for the card.
“Parents like Visa Buxx because it helps them teach their teen about responsible spending,” said Todd Brockman, vice president of prepaid products at Visa U.S.A. “What we saw in Snowball is a partner with a strong presence on the Web with a large, active teen user community.”
Snowball.com claims more than 7.5 million unique users a month, who average about 17 minutes per visit. The company said its monthly page views are more than 457 million. Snowball.com's registered users are divided into: 28 percent 31 years old and older; 28 percent 18- to 24-year-olds; 24 percent 13- to 17-year-olds; and 20 percent 25- to 30-year-olds.
Snowball.com said its IGN.com network receives more than 3 million unique visitors a month, and that its ChickClick.com network attracts 40 million page views per month, the majority of which are from teen girls.
“While Snowball's audience encompasses young adults as well as teens, we understand teen-agers and how their interests and needs differ from adults,” said Rick Boyce, Snowball.com's president. “Because our audience is Web-savvy and comfortable with online shopping, we are especially pleased that Visa chose Snowball to reach this audience.”
