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2006 Effie Awards Brief of Effectiveness: American Express
2 Comments · Posted by Lewis Wright in Marketing News
With a reputation of being an “uptight, white-male, stodgy, corporate” card American Express looked to bring in some younger card holders to help balance their membership. First, they’d test their new idea in New York City, “IN:NYC” and expand to other cities if it did well. Their goal was to entice 30% of new memberships with younger members, under 30 years of age, and at least 75% of IN:NYC members being completely new (never having an American Express card before).To overcome the aging branding of their member base and stand out from the 4 billion credit card offers mailed to households, American Express marketed specifically and offered different rewards like meals at trendy restaurants and tickets for local concerts. Resources like New York Magazine offered the perfect solution for members trying to find a place to have fun at nights. That’s not all though, American Express actually tried some guerilla marketing tactics like using cocktail napkins in bars, street murals and “wild postings”.
Not only did it do what they want but they also started some buzz getting unsolicited endorsements from Radio and TV stations. In fact, reaching their goal of obtaining more than 30% of their new memberships with users under 30 was a piece of cake, more than doubling their goal with a whopping 65%! That’s not all! 93% of the IN:NYC members had never been a member of any American Express cards, easily surpassing the goal of 75%. Because of it’s success similar initiatives have been launched in Los Angeles and Chicago.
American Express accomplished all this with a budget between $1-5million, less than competitors. We should all be so lucky!
All information taken from 2006 Effie Awards Brief of Effectiveness.
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David · June 6, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Very interesting stuff. I’ve always been kind of skeptical about these “rewards” deals. I guess if the card offered deals to more of the places that I would frequent, I’d sign up for sure. But, being a late-30′s, married, father of three, getting “out on the town” just isn’t as easy as it used to be.
Lewis · June 6, 2007 at 2:39 pm
From what I was reading you wouldn’t be the demographic. I hate to break this to you but you may not be hip anymore.