After 12 years as Mastercard’s chief advertising and marketing and communications officer, Raja Rajamannar is leaving his submit and shifting into the position of senior fellow.

Accenture advertising and marketing boss Jill Kramer will succeed him from Dec. 1.

Underneath Rajamannar’s management, Mastercard remodeled right into a marketing-led, data-driven group. A former chair of the ANA’s Global CMO Growth Council, he additionally based Mastercard’s healthcare enterprise and authored Quantum Advertising and marketing, now taught at greater than 300 universities.

Rajamannar’s legacy is rooted in evolving Mastercard’s “Priceless” model platform.

Debuted in 1997, lengthy earlier than Rajamannar joined the monetary agency, the unique TV business from McCann showcased treasured moments in life, ending on the tagline: “There are some issues cash can’t purchase; for every part else, there’s Mastercard.”

Since taking over Mastercard’s high advertising and marketing position in 2012, Rajamannar has turned the “Priceless” promise right into a multidimensional model platform, spanning experiences, improvements, and extra.

ADWEEK seems to be again on his three standout advertising and marketing moments.

1. Evolving a ‘Priceless’ proposition

Mastercard’s ‘Priceless’ marketing campaign has advanced over the past 30 years.
Mastercard

To evolve “Priceless,” Rajamannar shifted its focus from merely delivering memorable moments to curating extraordinary experiences for patrons. These have ranged from an unique dinner atop a Occasions Sq. billboard in New York Metropolis to distinctive restaurant partnerships throughout the U.S., Brazil, the U.Okay., Hong Kong, and past.

The model even launched bespoke macaron flavors in partnership with luxurious French patisserie Ladurée to let folks “style” the model.

“Priceless” has additionally been central to Mastercard’s longtime Grammys sponsorship, together with a recent partnership with Lady Gaga that gave followers the prospect to be a part of a fan model of the video for her 2025 single “Abracadabra.”

Chatting with ADWEEK 5 years into his position, Rajamannar stated “Priceless” had endured the take a look at of time as a result of it tapped right into a common human reality: “experiences matter greater than issues.”