MUMBAI: Visa USA just dove into new advertising waters. It launched a 30-second television commercial featuring Olympic swimmer and Visa Gold Medal Athlete, Michael Phelps.

The spot shows Phelps making his way from Greece where the Olympic Games will take place in August to one of America's important symbols the Statue of Liberty. The tag line in the ad is aimed at reinforcing Visa's role as the only card accepted at the Games.

The ad is called Lap. It is the second of three Visa television spots to break promoting Visa's sponsorship of the Olympic Games. The commercial, through the magic of special effects, features Phelps swimming away from Poseidon's Temple in Greece, past a picturesque coastal town in Italy, a cruise liner, a breaching whale. His course also takes him through a small island, where a castaway valiantly tries to get the swimmer's attention.

Phelps makes his way into the New York Harbour, touching the base of the Statue of Liberty. This marks the end of his first lap. He then turns and starts the return journey, showing how everyone prepares for the Olympic Games in their own way.

The Lap spot was created by BBDO New York. Lap was filmed on location in Greece, New York and Miami. The first spot of Visa's 2004 Olympic Games campaign debuted in February during the Super Bowl. It had featured the US women's beach volleyball duo Misty May and Kerri Walsh.

Visa added that since 1985 it has worked with BBDO New York on its Visa. It's Everywhere You Want To Be advertising campaign