Platinum Experiences
Making Platinum Card Membership a part of the cultural zeitgeist, through first-ever partnerships and experiences.
Role: Experiential Creative Strategy & Direction, Brand Design lead
Agency Partners: Momentum Worldwide, PMK BNC, Karlitz & Co.
2017-2019
The Insight & Opportunity
In late 2016, the premium credit card landscape was cluttered with Amex Platinum competitors vying for the coveted millennial prospect set, in a race to the bottom that focused exclusively on points accelerators and rationale value.
To break through and shift the narrative, Amex planned a 2017 Platinum Card relaunch that would pair a valuable infusion of tailored card benefits with a unique focus on bringing to life the passion points of Card Members through brand experiences, elevating the rational into the aspirational in places and spaces that mattered.
The Objectives
Create an experiential platform to bring to life the benefits and services of Platinum during cultural heat moments.
Develop and activate a unique brand partnerships model, through the creation of an advisory board that aligned with Card Members passion points.
Drive prospect envy, to acquire new card accounts, and brand love amongst Card Members, to increase benefit awareness and Card spend.
The Idea
As a part of a small go-to-market strategy team, I led the brand design and creative strategy for Amex’s first pop-up concept series, Platinum House, and collaborated on the partner selection and activation of The Platinum Collective, an group of 20 entrepreneurs, tastemakers, and innovators who helped define the future of Platinum.
I partnered with experiential agency creatives to develop Platinum experiential brand design tenets, an environmental design system that allowed for consistency and flexibility across cultural event activations, and ensured a flawless execution on-site. I collaborated directly with Platinum Collective members and card benefit partners to develop unique brand partnership visual executions and activation touch points.
Platinum House put Membership on the map during cultural heat moments like Coachella, London Fashion Week, Art Basel Miami, Aspen Food & Wine, with luxury lounge spaces, premium food and beverages, fitness classes, dining experiences, musical performances and more.
Featured Experience:
Platinum House Palm Springs
Coachella Music Festival, April 2018
The Parker Palm Springs served as the perfect canvas for a perspective-changing Platinum House in the desert, with a surreal structure created by Platinum Collective member and visual artist Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture. Card Members and guests could get festival-ready looks by Zanna Roberts Rassi of Milk Makeup, experience the first Platinum Soul Annex fitness pop-up by Stacey Griffith of SoulCycle, and get access to This Is Just Fantasy, the custom merch line created for Platinum by Quincy Moore of Knowlita/NYON. They sipped on the signature cocktail, The Platinum Pony, created by Collective members Bertha González Nieves from Casa Dragones and Tobin Ludwig from Hella Bitters, while jamming to musical performances curated by Republic Records, featuring Julia Michaels, Justine Skye, Towkio, and Duckwrth.
The Impact
Amplification via The Platinum Collective, hosted media, and programming partners led to a total of 3.5B+ PR/social impressions*, including feature stories in Vogue, Cool Hunting, Refinery 29, Daily Front Row, W Magazine, and Forbes.
Amex saw a 40% increase in Card Member benefit awareness, with record-breaking card member spend and millennial engagement.
The platform contributed to the highest-ever new accounts acquired over the 3-year period.*
*Sources: 2018 Access Impact Study, 2018 Access Brand Study, 2018 Access Reporting (Wasserman), 2018/2019 Platinum House surveys (RTi Research)