Brand re-appraisal for American Express

How do you research radical creative ideas – without destroying them?

The puzzle

American Express wanted to start a positive re-appraisal of their brand, using a radically different campaign by Ogilvy.

• How could research help to evolve the campaign without destroying its creative soul?
• And how could we carry the creative people with us?
• How could we make both campaign and research work across many markets?

The pieces

We came up with a new approach – Concept Nursery – using the principles of Appreciative Inquiry.

• Designed to identify and build upon the strengths of a creative concept.
• Key creatives and customers brought together for workshops.
• Exercises put people in a creative mindset. Participants treated as valued team members.

The picture

The campaign launched with great success and is still the basis for Amex’s communications.

• Concept Nursery helped to optimise the executions and keep creatives on board.
• Praise from the ad team and from the research industry (Best Paper New Consumer Insights).
• Amex still uses the technique to develop both ATL and BTL campaigns.