New Credit Card Spots Show Fierce Competition for High-End Consumers

Eric Dash reports for the New York Time's Advertising section about new advertising efforts being launched by American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

Like the candy and cola wars, the three-way advertising frenzy among the credit card companies reflects the challenges of a saturated marketplace. Until recently, the payment associations, which provide the electronic processing network and basic card platforms to their issuing banks, largely left product advertising to their members. But as debit card use has risen and credit card growth has slowed, the companies are struggling to find new customers and get existing ones to use the cards more.