American Express Platinum Personalized Cashback

Challenge

American Express sought to boost sign-ups for its Platinum Cashback Credit Card while educating long-term customers and demonstrating quick benefits to short-term ones. The campaign needed to simplify the often-confusing concept of cashback rewards and align with new marketing strategies to build trust and engagement.

Insight

Many customers struggle to understand how cashback works and its potential benefits. With Amazon’s advanced personalization capabilities, there was an opportunity to create a tailored experience that connected cashback rewards directly to individual spending habits, making the value proposition clearer and more relatable.

Idea

Develop the Cash Back calculator—a personalized tool that allowed Amazon customers to estimate their potential cashback earnings based on past spending patterns. By leveraging Amazon’s personalization platform, the campaign simplified the concept of cashback rewards while driving sign-ups for the Platinum Cashback Credit Card.

Execution

1. Personalized Advertising: Used Amazon’s personalization platform to create tailored ads targeting specific customer segments.

2. Custom Landing Pages: Integrated the Cash Back calculator into bespoke landing pages within Amazon’s ecosystem.

3. Mobile Optimization: Focused on mobile-friendly experiences across devices like Fire tablets and Fire TV.

4. Collaborative Messaging: Partnered with Ogilvy to align messaging and build trust through targeted campaigns.

Innovations

• First Global Use of Personalized Customer Data: Leveraged spend history to create tailored advertising experiences within Amazon’s platform.

• Attribution Modeling: Pioneered custom landing pages for enhanced reporting and optimization.

• Device-Specific Targeting: Optimized ads for Fire tablets and Fire TV, achieving higher engagement rates.

• Seamless User Journey: Integrated personalized ads with direct links to American Express sign-up pages.

Impact

• Generated 23 million impressions during the campaign.

• Achieved 62,000 click-throughs (0.27% CTR), delivering 1.5x year-over-year growth in engagement.

• Increased online ad awareness by 1.5x post-campaign.

• Boosted consideration intent for the Platinum Cashback Credit Card by +10.8 points.

• 82% of opt-ins progressed to the Amex site for sign-up.

• 96% of traffic came from mobile devices, with Fire tablets performing best at a 1.16% CTR.

This campaign set a new standard for personalized digital advertising, combining American Express’s financial expertise with Amazon’s data-driven platform to drive awareness, engagement, and sign-ups for the Platinum Cashback Credit Card.

Credits

• Senior Art Director: Matthew Swan

• Program Manager: Nick Robinson

• Brand Strategist: Richard Kirk

• Design Technologist: Armand Biteau

• Creative Director: Shabeeb Kutteery