We have been watching with interest how Apple is (and, more importantly, is not) using card marketing best practices to sell its newest product. It offers a good case study in how a beloved brand can use its clout to break from a traditional approach.

When Walmart and Capital One partnered to create the new Capital One Walmart Rewards Credit Card, they did a great job of keeping the marketing simple. We were pretty impressed with the clean and clear materials designed to help with migration, acquisition and EMOB communications.

Media Logic's financial services marketing experts dig into a new white paper with statistics and insights that can help banks and credit unions grow their credit card portfolios with Millennial consumers.

See how Delta and American Express add immediacy and urgency to the roll-out of upgrades to their co-brand credit card line-up.

Mastercard is clearly trying to create buzz -- and FOMO -- among specific customer segments. The PRICELESS experiential marketing effort signals to global travelers and foodies – including *aspirational* globe trotters and culinary adventurers – that Mastercard knows who they are, knows what they want and knows how to bring it to them.

Seeing Marriott’s Early Month on Books marketing campaign was love at first sight, and this high-level analysis of its EMOB email stream confirms that the brand is doing a lot right when it comes to engaging new cardholders.

With graduation and college being the sole focus of her life in the past several months, she had never given credit cards any thought at all, much less developed pre-conceived notions that were going to be challenged by this particular DM piece. The real estate could have been used for a more relevant message for a first-time applicant.

Our latest infographic shows why EMOB marketing works. Let it inspire and motivate you to push five key activities with cardholders in their first 90 days!

It’s critical to get in front of new cardholders early and often to drive immediate activation and usage. Using these tried-and-true best practices, you can craft a strategic EMOB plan that improves your chances of becoming top of wallet with a highly engaged cardholder base.

With deep market saturation, continual launch of new programs and reinvention of existing programs, there is a high degree of churn and upward pressure on brands' credit card reward programs. However, these marketing communications create opportunities to build customer loyalty.