Declaring Bankruptcy for AmEx's Social Currency Campaign
May 17, 2011 by Nate Winter
American Express has a new campaign that touts its membership rewards as "the social currency"-- having interpersonal value beyond what's on the price tag. It's an emotional appeal in the vein of MasterCard's iconic "Priceless" campaign. Or at least it should've been. Check out the TV spot.
A faceless crowd watching a band on stage. A woman shopping on her phone by herself. Disembodied chat quotes on the side of a building. Stop me when you get that warm, fuzzy social feeling.
Now let's look at the sliding banners on the campaign's microsite, TheSocialCurrency.com. Again, the disembodied chat quotes. Illustrations of Amazon.com products, concert tickets, an airplane window, a wine glass. Where the hell are the people? Where's the exhilaration of doing awesome stuff together? Where's the damn social?!
I won't mince words, the excitement in this campaign rivals a sloth on Ambien. But the pity is that it didn't have to. I think the AmEx-points-as-social-currency idea is a bit of a stretch, but could've been plausible if executed the right way-- showing close groups of people having fun and doing extraordinary things with their membership rewards. But with a TV spot and web banners that are dull, impersonal and antisocial, the whole campaign feels as flat as its faux paper illustrations.
And with the explosion of social media, AmEx missed a big opportunity to create a strong social media dimension to this campaign. A dimension, that is, besides using your points for Mafia Wars or CityVille.
For a look at TV spots that would've actually supported the social currency idea, look no further than AmEx competitor Citibank, who also has a rewards program. While Citi's program and ad campaign aren't explicitly about being social, you feel the excitement and the socialness. It's people doing big, fun stuff that they love. And they're doing it together.
Check out this spot:
Good, right? The guy is becoming a rock star, meeting new friends and loving every second of it-- all thanks to his Citi Thank You Card. That's social currency. Here's another good one from the campaign: Citi - The Space Commercial.
So, yeah, I've hereby declared bankruptcy for American Express's whole social currency campaign. Luckily, there's no bailout for marketing blunders like this one, so AmEx is likely to learn from the mistake.
