NEWS: O&M launches global Amex drive

American Express is dropping its personality led endorsement ads to make

way for a global branding campaign which will break in the UK on Monday

as part of a pounds 20 million offensive.

The campaign has been devised by Ogilvy and Mather as part of a new

marketing strategy aimed at moving the brand away from being seen as a

single product - the charge card - to a multi-product service. The drive

will initially consist of TV and press executions, with additional

poster work planned for September. Media buying is through TMD Carat.

The 30-, 40- and 60-second TV spots show a number of changing scenes,

underscored with the voices of male and female American Express

telephone operators as they assist customers.

The endframe shows the American Express logo, while in a corner of the

screen the words ‘insurance services’, ‘corporate services’, ‘cards’,

‘travellers cheques’ and ‘travel’ flash up. The strapline reads: ‘Maybe

it’s time you let American Express let you do more.’

The press ads will break on 1 July and feature details about membership

rewards, American Express travel insurance and the American Express

credit card, which was launched last year.

Russ Shaw, vice-president of advertising and brand management at

American Express, said: ‘A lot of our ads have focused on the cards and

we felt that, if we were going to communicate our brand, we should look

at a global campaign. We wanted people to know we have a lot more

services than just a card.’

It is the first time in American Express’s 146-year history that it has

used a single ad campaign to support all of its products and services.

The TV campaign was created by the American Express creative directors,

Rick Boyko and Michael Ward, in the US. The UK adaptation was produced

by the art director, Kelvin Tillinghast, and the copywriter, Jerry

Holtaway.

The films were directed by Paul Cade through Lovinger Cone and

Associates. The press work was created by Tillinghast and Holtaway.

This article was first published on Campaign