Amex Travel Digital Marketing Campaign
Challenge: Raise awareness of the benefits offered by American Express Travel, the world’s 6th largest travel company.
Solution: We created a brand strategy, digital campaign, and marketing toolkit to help marketers communicate the full suite of benefits and inspire Card Members to book through Amex Travel.
Agency: McGarryBowen
Role: Creative Director / Designer
Business context
American Express Travel is the world’s 6th-largest online travel agency, offering over 110,000 hotel options, 1,500 rental agencies, and present in 22 markets in over 12 languages. But Card Members were unaware because these offerings were marketed as a disparate collection of travel benefits. There was a big opportunity to grow engagement, especially with Premium Card Members.
Target audience
We identified the primary target audience, The Savvy Traveler, people who live and work through travel.
The creative idea
To present American Express Travel as a holistic, connected travel service, we communicated all programs, products, portfolios, and services under one shared creative story.
Key marketing principles
The creative idea needed to come to life across landing pages, email, social media, banner ads, and more. A marketing framework helped Amex Travel communicate holistically on all digital touchpoints.
We established six key principles against which marketing decisions were measured, providing guidance on the best way to bring communications to life.
Maximizing channel impact
While we wanted consistency in execution, we also considered the specific needs of each channel. We allowed communications to be flexible to send messages best suited to environments where they lived.
Creative anatomy and brand ingredients
American Express visual brand elements helped us execute consistently, regardless of the channel. In their ideal state, communications included the following brand elements:
• American Express logo
• Benefit/program wordmark
• Headline and claim
• Call to action
• Image location attribution
• Ribbon graphic
Bringing it to life
The campaign brought together the American Express Travel brand elements to form distinctive communications aimed at Savvy Traveler audiences.
Fine Hotels + Resorts digital directory
The American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts directory page helped guests pinpoint hotels based on their interests and preferred destinations. The hero image featured luxurious properties to inspire travelers to book their next stay.
International Airline Program website
The American Express International Airline Program website provided access to over 20 participating world-class international airlines. The booking dashboard used design elements similar to those on the American Express main site, creating a consistent brand experience.
The American Express International Airline Program website provided access to over 20 participating world-class international airlines. The booking dashboard used design elements similar to those on the American Express main site, creating a consistent brand experience.
Card Member emails
Card Member emails featured stunning images of destinations, luxury properties, amenities, and exclusive benefits. CTAs provided multiple opportunities for Card Members to take action.
Card Member emails featured stunning images of destinations, luxury properties, amenities, and exclusive benefits. CTAs provided multiple opportunities for Card Members to take action.
Social media
On social media, animated banners had aspirational images relevant to featured offers. Each animated frame included a benefit/program wordmark, location attribution, and the American Express ribbon graphic.
On social media, animated banners had aspirational images relevant to featured offers. Each animated frame included a benefit/program wordmark, location attribution, and the American Express ribbon graphic.
Marketing Toolkit
We created a Toolkit to help marketers and agency partners understand the Amex Travel marketing ecosystem, give guidance, and bring the campaign to life through messaging and communications.
We created a Toolkit to help marketers and agency partners understand the Amex Travel marketing ecosystem, give guidance, and bring the campaign to life through messaging and communications.
The highly detailed Toolkit encompassed marketing strategy, positioning, visual elements and examples, and a library of legal claims approved for use on all materials.
