American Express gives Away iPhones

# 17 Best Dealer, Sales Force or Business-to-Business Campaign

AMEX OPEN PLUM CARD LAUNCH

AGENCY: Momentum Worldwide

CLIENT: American Express

When American Express Open was about to introduce a new credit card for small business owners, it wanted to make a big splash where its potential customers would be hanging out: a business convention.

Amex saw the Plum Card as the real peach that it wanted to showcase with a memorable introductory stunt. The innovative new card would give business owners trade terms and up to 2% back on purchases, or enable them to defer payment for 60 days interest free.

“We knew we had a really special product,” says Marci Shinder, vice president of brand strategy and marketing for Amex Open. “It had a rich, beautiful color and a new and direct value proposition that had never been on the market before. We knew it was really special, so we didn’t want to do an average marketing campaign.”

The introduction of the card would predate advertising and traditional marketing around it. Momentum Worldwide, which handled the activation, suggested the Inc. 500 Conference in Chicago as a venue.

“Our thinking was that we needed to go where small business owners are, and our mantra was to turn attendees into evangelists,” says Richard Black, Momentum senior vice president, who oversees the Amex Open account.

Momentum devised a large plum-colored cube as the exhibit booth, with the words, “Who Is Getting One?” printed on one side. A countdown clock that ticked off the seconds leading to a kick-off point the following day enhanced the mystery of the purple cube, which carried a subtle Amex filigree, but offered no other clues about its meaning.

“We’re always being challenged to come up with new and interesting concepts that resonate,” Black says. “We really wanted to create anticipation and some buzz. For the other sponsors, we were pretty much their worst nightmare.”

As the timer at the Plum Card clock ticked down to the appointed hour, Susan Sobbott, president of Amex Open, addressed the attendees and described the new card. Then she told them to look under their seats, where Momentum staff members had placed 1,100 Plum-branded iPhone cases. They were told they could pick up their phones at the Amex booth, and a general stampede ensued.

Each honoree received a fully activated iPhone as a premium, with every phone pre-loaded with conference information, details about the new credit card and a direct channel to Sobbott. The idea was to use these executives as a test group to provide feedback about the card before its general release.

“We wanted to get [the card] in the hands of influencers,” Shinder says.

Momentum’s tease-and-reveal strategy paid off with prompt results among the initial targets who did, indeed, help spread very positive words about the new credit card.

More than 65% of the conference attendees had been pre-qualified for the Plum card, and a high percentage took multiple cards for their businesses.

The conference event was topped off with an evening concert at Chicago’s House of Blues, where Sobbott made a cameo appearance onstage.

Shortly after the conference ended, Amex surpassed its initial goal to put 10,000 cards in circulation.

It set up a private micro-site to enable cardholders to communicate with one another and to give feedback and suggestions about the card to Amex.

“The engagement we’ve seen has been higher than any benchmark you can imagine,” Shinder says.

IDEA TO STEAL: THE “TEASE-AND-REVEAL” APPROACH

can be an effective tactic, particularly with the right premium to help prompt positive feelings about a good product.