At-A-Glance: American Express EveryDay – Migrating Spend to Credit with 20 Swipes a Month
American Express has long been out in front of its competitors with product development, and its newest entry – the American Express EveryDay card – is no exception. Amex unveiled the card during the Oscars with a splashy ad campaign that featured Tina Fey:
The EveryDay card, which officially launches in April, has a simple value proposition. If cardmembers make 20 purchases a month, they earn 20 percent extra membership rewards points on those purchases – on top of the one point per dollar on all purchases and two points per dollar at supermarkets.
What Amex does brilliantly with the campaign and its website is the inclusion of a slight gamification element to the product. By asking “What’s Your 20?” and showing a mock-up of what looks like an app that will track the number of purchases, Amex makes reaching 20 purchases a bit of a competition against yourself. Swipe that card and get to “your 20” or you are missing out.
So what is Amex’s goal for this card? It is seeking to broaden its customer base with a card that appeals to those who swipe often: multi-taskers and mothers. By featuring Tina Fey (the unapologetic heroine to working mothers everywhere) and developing a product that rewards close tracking of spend and double points for grocery purchases, this sure feels like a play for the household “CFO”.
But Amex may also be seeking to capture spend that is migrating from debit. Ever since the Durbin Rule put caps on debit interchange, issuers have pulled back on debit rewards. And since debit cards are often used for “everyday” expenses like gas and groceries, issuers are seeking to shift that spend to credit while incenting swipes for smaller purchases (dryer sheets anyone?).
The EveryDay card is Amex’s biggest new rollout since the Blue Card in 2000, and based on a BrandAds study, the company had the most effective ad during the Oscars. We’ll have to see how card acquisition goes when the product roles out in April, but so far American Express seems to have a solid value proposition and marketing strategy.
