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AmEx Members Project Raises the Bar in Social Media Marketing

American Express is raising the bar on social media marketing with their new campaign, "The Members Project."

At a time when so many social media marketing campaigns are pointless, weird, or just plain boring, (too many to name in the latter category) this is a welcome and refreshing addition to the lexicon. Bravo!

The campaign, open to AmEx card holders only (think membership expansion) combines corporate social responsibility with social media. An email said:

"...Join Cardmembers to dream up, and ultimately unite behind, one incredible idea. American Express will bring it to life with up to $5 million.

So where does the money come from? It's all about power in numbers. For every Cardmember that registers, American Express contributes $1 — up to $5 million for that one winning idea.*

Will you send meningitis vaccines to Africa? Rebuild a school in New Orleans? Or support small organic farmers? The possibilities are endless. The decision is yours. Join The Members Project today."

Participants read and rate the ideas, and on July 3rd, the top 50 projects will be announced so the favorite can be chosen.

The campaign has community, interesting ideas, a conscience, a point, and is also sure to raise awareness, add a coolness factor to carrying the card, and, well, you get the point, I think it's great.

Categories: Ad targeting, Advertainment, Alternative Marketing, Best Practices, Business Communications, Buzz, Commentary, Internet strategy, Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing, Word of Mouth

BL Ochman | May 17 07 3:29 | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I thought it looked like a great idea as well. But after numerous attempts to log in...including trying names I know couldn't possibly be in use...and still getting an error message...coupled with no way to contact anyone online (a Help link would be nice), I gave up. Life's too short!

Posted by: rickey gold at May 18, 2007 1:21 AM

B.L.,
Thanks for bringing the amex campaign to our attention. "The Members Project" is an example of what I call, "good karma marketing," a marketing philosophy that cuts across all marketing disciplines. It means the brand is socially responsible and has listened to their community of customers and prospects to find out what THEY are concerned about. It raises awareness of important community issues (and the community can be global, regional or very local) and gives large corporations a more human face. Another example going on right now is HSBC's
"There's no Small Change." www.theresnosmallchange.com It's not a "perfect" campaign, but then again, I don't see any other world bank sticking their neck out to stick up for the environment!

Posted by: Karma Martell at May 18, 2007 9:28 AM

Easy-to-use login systems: Priceless.

Posted by: Martha Retallick at May 18, 2007 11:21 AM

How much is the golden parachute for the AmEx CEO? If it's more than $100 million let's take some of that back and apply it to this "promotion" so this "promotion" might actually mean something.

Posted by: Terri Ahern at June 15, 2007 4:00 PM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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