Amex plays premium card; targets Gen X with bling

In its latest campaign, the New York-headquartered banking and finance service corporation — American Express — is riding on its yesteryear proposition of 'premiumness'. 'Metal Makes It Possible' — the 360-degree campaign for 'metal' Platinum Charge Card features Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar. The campaign has been conceptualised by Ogilvy, the Mumbai-based integrated communications agency.

The campaign targets 40-50 year old affluent customers who travel frequently and a majority of their spends are on overseas travel. The 169-year-old brand aims to reach out to the existing card-member-base and influence prospects by leveraging the metal form factor while amplifying the rational value benefits of the metal American Express Platinum.

Manoj Adlakha, chief executive officer, American Express India, admits that while spending on credit cards has increased over the years, it remains a small proportion of total spending in this market. “Our internal analysis through customer feedback shows that the spending traits of millennials are no different from the affluent segment. Both have a positive mindset, are open to new experiences and have high expectations.”

“For our super-premium Cardmembers’ portfolio, we have brought in industry-first offers from high-end luxury labels. On the other hand, for the aspiring or emerging affluent consumer-set, we have introduced new products with lower entry barrier both in terms of salary-eligibility-range and annual fee,” he shares.

About the changes in the market space he mentions, “Over time, as we have broadened our product set, we have also introduced offerings for millennials and aspiring affluent consumer-sets. Our suite of credit card products cater to affluent, premium and millennial segments keeping in mind their lifestyle and priorities. We want to be part of the young, aspirational professionals’ spending habits.”

We questioned him on the impact of expanding digital payments market. “The payments landscape is evolving and transforming at an accelerated pace. Customers now live their lives in one continuous experience. They no longer think in terms of specific industries such as finance, or hospitality or healthcare. They judge every brand interaction against the last frictionless and delightful experience they've had,” informs Adlakha.

“We are focussed on transforming and creating new products and services for the digital marketplace to enhance our customers’ digital experiences and develop platforms for online and mobile commerce. We are re-thinking every customer touch-point with a 'digital-first' approach to ensure we solve for our customers’ needs when they need it and where they need it,” he maintains.

Spread across digital, TV, print and outdoor, the campaign will run for a period of six weeks starting November 7, 2019.

A decade ago, pulling out an Amex card at a fine dining restaurant sure would have been a status symbol. However, with the expansion of digital payments market and newer brands cropping up, we doubt that the brand can now peddle on the same 'stylish' and 'premium' brand equity.

We spoke to a few industry brand experts to understand their take on this.

Business consultant and start up advisor, Samar Singh Sheikhawat, feels this is a complete leap of faith, “What is American Express trying to do? Convert debit card users to credit cards, and therefore to American Express? In which case there should be some basic introduction of the offering to consumers that they may not be aware of. If the attempt is to get existing credit card users to upgrade to Amex, some benefits of the card should've been featured.”

“This campaign comes after a really long hiatus and people may not even be aware of Amex cards, especially in the age of digital transactions, mobile wallets, secure payment gateways and net banking,” he points out.

Punching holes into the premise Sheikhawat says, “I know they are trying to say — anything is possible with Amex, but the storyline itself is very far-fetched and pretentious. The obvious usage of the ‘metal' card in cutting the ropes around the guitar is ridiculous. No one who carries his guitar in a case ties up the case with a rope. And if it is indeed that sharp, won't it cut my hand as well? And nobody will keep a card in his pocket without it being in a wallet or folder or something. Shows a clear suspension of common sense and lack of detailed thinking.”

“If you chose Farhan Akhtar as the brand ambassador, why not use him more than the other protagonist? Why not weave a story around Farhan Akhtar? Why would you introduce him at the 14th second in a 30 second film?” he says expressing his displeasure.

Ramanujam Sridhar, chief executive officer, Brand-Comm, too, doesn’t find this campaign unique, except perhaps the fact that they have a new celebrity on board. He, however, is of the opinion that the 'exclusivity', 'premiumness' really works for a category like this now.

He says, “One of the biggest challenges that Amex faces in the Indian market is acceptability. I think they have really limited options from an advertising point of view. And I guess they are taking the premiumness platform because that is what they can claim to be. They have always been a little stand-off-ish and exclusive. I see this as them extending on their same old mass media advertising strategy. Not necessarily something that will make a big impact on the consumer.”

Today, he feels, the challenge before premium cards is not only to get the card in your wallet but to actually get you to use it. “I think Amex has to revisit their overall strategy and make people use the card,” he says.

Harish Bijoor, brand consultant and founder Harish Bijoor Consults Inc., finds the idea of the campaign old but the execution good. He says this makes for a bit of retro marketing. “Remember, in the fast paced market of electronic and digital payments, two years is a decade. And to that extent the idea is jaded. However, if the idea is to sell it to a generation that is as old as the idea is, then it works.”

Further, he adds, “The credit card as a concept is an old one. As it gets outmoded and outworked from the lives of the very young, the category battles to hold on to those who are already with the card. To that extent I see this to be a holding campaign as opposed to a new acquisition campaign. As just that, it works.”

Credits

Creative agency name – Ogilvy

Creative Team – Ritu Sharda (CCO), Abhishek Gupta, Debasish Mandal, Abhishek Srivastav, Pawan Singh, Pratim Roy

Client servicing team – Kunal Jeswani (CEO), Sidharth Shukla, Namita Koshy (VP, Client Servicing) , Shreemoyee Ganguly, Mohit Choudhary

Media Planning agency name – Lodestar UM

DoP – Satchith Paulose

Director – Keyur Shah

Production House – Karma