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November 3, 1997

MasterCard Launches E-Commerce Education Campaign

[November 3] MasterCard International Inc. launched an Internet-based marketing and educational program, Shop Smart!, intended to accelerate the development of electronic commerce.

The company said its online education campaign is part of its ongoing effort to help consumers understand how to safely shop on the Internet and benefit from the choice, convenience, and value offered by online merchants.

MasterCard said it partnered with merchants ranging from Mercedes-Benz and N2K's Music Boulevard to the Internet Shopping Network and Preview Travel to reach the widest group of consumers.

Shop Smart! includes a new Web site area, an online instant win game to build awareness, and a merchant marketing program to help drive consumers to participating merchant sites. The program runs through December 31.

MasterCard is also sponsoring StoreSearch, an Internet shopping guide that will be featured in MasterCard's Web site.

"Our Shop Smart! program is designed to give consumers the information they need to feel confident about making purchases on the Internet with the best security available," said Debra Coughlin, senior vice president, global advertising and marketing services.

MasterCard's Shop Smart! decal displayed on a merchant's Web site indicates that the merchant is genuine, committed to consumer education, and uses "best available practices" for online shopping, the company said.

MasterCard said its interactive agency, Larchmont, NY-based Multimedia Resources, helped to develop the Shop Smart! program. Spending was not disclosed.

The Shop Smart! Internet advertising campaign, designed to drive traffic to MasterCard's Web site for educational information on shopping and to MasterCard's new "See the Future Now" instant win game, includes search engines such as Excite, Yahoo!, and Lycos and special interest sites including Preview Travel, Music Blvd., ABCNews.com, NBC.com, and Netscape.