June 21st marked the second NoCashDay in Italy, an entire day dedicated to raising awareness of the negative effects of cash. This year’s goal remains the same as the first, but many things have happened in Italy which have increased Italians’ aversion towards cash.
First, the national debate on the use of cash has entered the government agenda, supported by discussions and legislative proposals that aim to progressively minimize the use of cash to sustain the fight against informal economy. Moreover, the advantages of traceability and transparency with electronic payment products like debit and prepaid vs. cash have become increasingly more important for Italians in reaching their objective.
Italy is also a country of young and old alike, who are increasingly aware and sensitive to adopt advanced and innovative solutions, as evidenced by the success of many initiatives that MasterCard is driving in Italy.
The launch of the E-postepay card, a brand new virtual prepaid card launched in collaboration with Poste Italiane, the Italian Post Office, is a good example that while there is a growing distrust in the physical world, and therefore in cash, a consumer revolution is happening that has increased the confidence on the internet, underscoring the progressive benefits related to e-Commerce in terms of cost and simplification of purchases.
In addition, the strong national commitment to expand the acceptance of MasterCard PayPass in Italy is following another love of Italians, the one for smartphones that are already being tested to allow payments with MasterCard PayPass.
This makes me think that Italy is a country in which we have embraced the vision of creating a “world beyond cash”, but also could aspire to be able to create a “world beyond plastic”.
As part of the No Cash Day initiative, a special creative contest was held with the students of the Europena Institute of Design (IED) in Rome, where they were charged with developing communication campaigns to motivate Italians to displace cash.
The projects are creative provocations, but almost all deal with the theme of the futility related to cash and embrace with conviction the idea of the world we want to build together, a world beyond cash, in which if they were asked to change a banknote with a swag full of inefficient coins, certainly we would be forced to refuse the courtesy. Here’s quick video where you’ll see what I mean:
The creative projects of European Institute of Desing and the No Cash Day will become a topic of a Cashless Conversation. You too can join in the conversation by following the conversation on Twitter at 16.00 – 19.00 (CET time) using the hashtag #cashlessconvo and #nocashday12
