Enhancing Impact Visibility: How the Mastercard Foundation measured perception and media coverage impact through Agility’s media insights solution

The Challenge

Evaluating the coverage and share of voice of the Mastercard Foundation’s global initiatives

To drive financial inclusion and education among youth in Africa and Indigenous Communities in Canada, the Mastercard Foundation required a robust tool to monitor and measure the media coverage of its partnerships effectively.

Notably, for its charitable work in Africa, the organization planned to streamline the process of analyzing local, regional, and global content from the regions in which it operated. The Mastercard Foundation sought to ensure that the full breadth of crucial local coverage was captured. The focus was on a curated list of top-tier African media outlets to ensure no key mentions were missed. To further optimize coverage monitoring, the Mastercard Foundation coordinated the delivery of local grassroots content to be integrated into the reporting.

In addition to simplifying monitoring coverage, Mastercard Foundation required a media intelligence partner for media analysis and to assist in devising customized measurement parameters tailored to its needs. Agility PR Solutions was selected as the partner to deliver on this scope and could align with the Foundation’s evolving objectives and provide clarity on its expanding media influence through its initiatives.

The Solution

Devising a customized reporting framework to incorporate critical insights and gauge the performance of communications initiatives across traditional and social channels

The Mastercard Foundation leveraged a comprehensive media monitoring and analysis system developed with Agility to review media progress and assess how the coverage aligned with its organizational goals.

To track local coverage, Agility helped devise a customized workflow and process highlighting local and regional content. Agility worked closely with the Mastercard Foundation to understand their scope and requirements, tailoring their approach to meet the Foundation’s objectives.

As Mastercard Foundation’s objectives evolved, Agility built upon the initial reports to incorporate high-quality insights and dynamic elements into the reporting framework to achieve the required goals.

Streamlined Reporting Structure

Monitoring and measuring the media coverage of Mastercard Foundation’s programs required periodic assessments, and the Foundation worked closely with Agility to develop a reporting structure identifying core metrics for gauging coverage impact.

With tailored media reporting in place, the Mastercard Foundation gained increased visibility into its media coverage, which covered the impact of its initiatives and helped guide informed decisions. Mastercard Foundation’s Public Affairs and Communications team leveraged weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports for the Board of Directors that Agility’s team of expert media analysts prepared to measure media performance and share critical insights across traditional and social media.

These periodic insights were instrumental in assessing the perception and share of voice surrounding Mastercard Foundation’s initiatives and guiding its strategy as a thought leader.

Comprehensive Coverage Monitoring

Detailed coverage monitoring ensured that the Mastercard Foundation reviewed and analyzed each critical mention. This included coverage trends across different channels, focusing on volume, reach, and engagement.

This fostered an in-depth understanding of how the Foundation’s research influenced public discourse and amplified awareness of crucial topics, including youth employment, women empowerment, and healthcare, among others.

In-Depth Insights Across Channels

In addition to coverage monitoring, the Mastercard Foundation derived contextual insights from sentiment analysis and prominent mentions highlighted in regular reports. With support from Agility, the Foundation assessed program coverage across traditional and social media channels by devising a tailored measurement strategy.

Evaluating coverage mentions reveals insight into the success of the Mastercard Foundation’s campaigns across different channels, enabling a greater understanding of the public sentiment and perception regarding the Mastercard Foundation’s initiatives.

Correlating Coverage and Website Engagement

The Mastercard Foundation’s online performance also benefited from local coverage and attention. Website traffic analysis illustrated a positive correlation between media data and website visitors. Custom media reporting provided by Agility noted that the website experienced increased visitor traffic after earning coverage in traditional media, confirming that offline coverage also leads to improvement in online metrics.

“By leveraging their expertise in media monitoring and coverage analysis, we were able to track critical media coverage and align our strategies to amplify awareness of key initiatives. This collaboration has been instrumental in helping us tell our story more effectively and drive meaningful change.”

– Eleni Constantine
Chief of Staff – Public Affairs and Communications
Mastercard Foundation

The Outcome

Increased media visibility and expert insights to guide informed decision-making, leading to accurate benchmarking

Enhanced local coverage visibility and actionable media insights empowered the Mastercard Foundation to assess the share of voice, market presence, and overall perception to refine its direction for strategic communications.

Media intelligence reports generated with Agility PR Solutions were instrumental in highlighting key mentions, assessing campaign effectiveness, and gauging media benchmark performance.

Given the success of their original collaboration, the Mastercard Foundation enrolled Agility to help design a customized reporting framework for their newly launched program in Africa, the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative in partnership with Africa CDC. The insights proved invaluable to the new project, with the reporting data facilitating program evaluation and turning attention to topics requiring amplification or deeper exploration for enhanced visibility and media impact.