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Berlin, July, 15, 2015 – Today Berlin became the second German city to join the global Priceless® Cities Program. In addition to the attractiveness of Berlin as a tourist destination, a variety of other factors tipped the scales: the capital is a growing economic and cultural base, and benefits from prestigious events, which has established Berlin as a creative center.
In this new endeavor, MasterCard supports Berlin as a city of creatives and artists by, for example, committing as a partner of the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as recently at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, where in the future, MasterCard wants to give young designers a platform through sponsorship.
These partnerships are closely linked to MasterCard’s payments innovations – you could pay at the Berlinale Film Festival and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week with contactless technology. MasterCard celebrated the official launch on Thursday, July 9, 2015, with two events: the fashion show of popular young Berlin label “Barre Noire” presented by MasterCard and a performance of “Flying Steps” in the Französische Friedrichstadt Kirche.
Priceless® Berlin is a value-added program that is geared towards comprehensive services for consumers, and those mediated by banks to cardholders. The needs of the consumer are at the center: In the categories experience, shop, stay and eat is offered what excites Berliners and Berlin visitors. Through this strong service orientation the Priceless® Cities program is to be considered an integral part of the customer loyalty programs of MasterCard and the card-issuing banks and savings banks. With the launch of each Priceless® City the DNA of the city is to be detected to offer unique experiences for cardholders in collaboration with merchants. Under the motto “Priceless® Berlin – Experience the Priceless in Priceless® Berlin” the German capital becomes part of the international initiative that has been offering priceless experiences for 17 years. This way, Berlin benefits most from additional attention from its citizens as well as visitors domestic and abroad.
Meanwhile, the program spans more than 35 cities worldwide, including Rome, New York, Paris, London and Munich, where MasterCard offers relevant activities, events and experiences. There will be a number of offers and priceless moments available in Berlin, for example a unique fashion design by Ewa Herzog; “underwater” – candlelit dinner at SEA LIFE Berlin or luxury at the Schlosshotel im Grunewald. “The main idea of Priceless® Cities was to bring consumers and partners of MasterCard awareness regarding cashless payments and to put innovative solutions to the forefront,” said Pawel Rychlinski, general manager, Germany.