Western Union appeared "money-oriented" and "cold," warned an internal marketing document that called for a more empathetic image. The goal, as one plan put it, was to capture a "share of mind" and a "share of heart" to preserve a "share of wallet."

Having once stressed efficiency ("the fastest way to send money"), Western Union now emphasizes the devotion the money represents. One poster pairs a Filipino nurse in London with her daughter back home in cap and gown, making Western Union an implicit partner in the family's achievements. "Sending so much more than money" is a common tag line.

The company sponsors hundreds of ethnic festivals, concerts and sporting events, from cricket matches for Indians in Dubai to sack races for Jamaicans in Queens, N.Y.

Last year it paid a Filipino pop star, Jim Paredes, to record a Tagalog song urging migrants to send money home. It paid the producers of a Bollywood film, "Namastey London," for a scene in which a Western Union wire transfer helps rescue the heroine.

The Western Union agent in Panama played the rescuer's role himself. With many of his customers illegal immigrants — mostly from Colombia — he put three lawyers on retainer and started a radio show. The lawyers answered callers' questions and scheduled free appointments.

"Every time an immigrant is forced outside the country, we lose a potential customer," said the agent, Jaime Lacayo, who provided the legal services for two years and still runs the radio show. "We have participated in many marriages of foreigners marrying Panamanian ladies, because that is the best way to legalize your status."

A global operation

Western Union boasts of 320,000 locations worldwide. Many agents are large organizations, like the Chinese postal system or grocery store chains. (About 60 percent of Western Union's person-to-person transfers occur wholly outside the United States.)

But companies also battle block by block for trusted local figures. Among them is Michael Lee, 35, who owns an electronics store called World Top Communications in New York's Chinatown. Sharing a building with a "lupus and tumor consultant," on a block of East Broadway that smells of dried shrimp, he was told by Western Union to expect a few hundred transactions a month.

He now does 100,000 a year, he said. Lee, who earns about $2.50 per transaction, is so enthusiastic he persuaded his landlord to paint the building yellow, and the company donated $16,000 worth of paint.

Many of his customers are in the country illegally. Lee, who was once an illegal immigrant, said his business fell by about 40 percent last spring after a series of nationwide immigration raids. "A lot of people don't have green cards — they are afraid," he said.