At-A-Glance: American Express EveryDay Getaway
Last month we took a look at the new American Express EveryDay card which was introduced through a series of Oscar night ads that featured Tina Fey. Since then, the card has launched officially and is being promoted heavily through an integrated marketing campaign that includes TV spots, emails, social media and promotions. (We have not seen a direct mail package yet, but it’s a good bet one is out there.)
It was the promotions part of the launch campaign that caught our eye – in particular, The Epic EveryDay Getaway. When we first wrote about this card, we noted that it was clearly targeted at the household “CFOs,” who are very often mothers, and this promotion fits right in with that targeting.
Leading up to Mother’s Day, American Express is asking consumers to post a photo and story of an everyday moment that celebrates moms. The entries are as touching as you would expect. Some of them are from mothers about their children; others are by adult children paying tribute to their moms.
The prize is the “epic” part of this promotion: a trip for two to New York City to attend a VIP concert by Maroon 5. Winners will also attend the musical “Rock of Ages” and receive a full makeover. And American Express is not just giving away one trip – it is giving away 50 of them to the top entries (based on judging against set criteria).
To promote the promotion American Express is using its own social media channels, but in a very smart move they also enlisted Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine to rally his fans, as well. (Note the “Mom” tattoo.)
This promotion works on a number of levels. The approach is bound to draw the attention of the target audience. The “ask” is for user-generated content that is almost universal in theme. The prize is a mother-daughter getaway, which also reinforces which audience the card’s design targets. The contest name and its use of #everydaymoments connect back to other card promotion efforts.
There were two things that we didn’t love, however. The prize details are fairly low on the page and easy to overlook. When you have a prize that big, you can really shout it from the roof tops! In addition, the photo resizing that American Express uses is leading to some distorted images in the gallery which is unfortunate given how personal some of them are. But overall, this is a great example of how to integrate social and promotions marketing into a product launch campaign.
