It is obvious that consumers have adopted social media at a rate that caught many marketers by surprise.
It is also obvious that companies large and small are starting to get the importance of the social revolution.
And finally it is sadly obvious that as marketers scramble to catch up, they can stumble clumsily.
Now normally I shy away from "naming names" but given the sheer media weight behind this campaign, specificity can be instructive. My intention purely is to explain how even the best of marketers can stumble into a confused social-terminology land grab that ultimately ill serves the brand and consumers.
The campaign I'm talking about here is AMEX's "social currency" campaign. I bet you are wondering; "What's my issue with this beautifully produced campaign that leverages the social cachet of "social currency?"
Before I answer, let's take a thoughtful look at the underpinnings of the TV spots somewhat obscured by the elegant execution. In the first spot we see a suitably styled, moderately upscale woman darting out of the rain and start to imagine what she might buy with her AMEX points. The second spot is a montage of tweets where people brag about how they are going to use their AMEX points. Both spots end with the line; "Membership reward points from American Express. They're a social currency with endless possibilities."
My beef is this. Last time I looked spending your AMEX reward points has nothing to do with ANY concept of "social currency" that I can fathom - folksy music notwithstanding. Nothing in the spots really introduces any type of social currency benefit or function or feature for "Judy Consumer." And a spot full of tweets doesn't count. The website or Facebook page also does nothing to reveal the missing strategic link. In fact, I could find nothing in this campaign at all that explains to "Judy Consumer" how AMEX's use of "social currency" is in any way related to what "social currency" can mean. We have a failure of alignment between the premise and the promise.
Yet there could have been any number of strategic approaches to support a "social currency" campaign. For instance, they could have created a service that lets people share their favorite AMEX purchases with each other (opt in of course). Or they could have developed a way for people to share points between members. Or, at a minimum, they could have featured tweets that highlight the sharing possible because of AMEX points. (And there's no excuse if the answer is that these features are coming - then the campaign should not have launched until ready).
The issue is that in their social buzz land grab effort, they confused an already muddled, hype consumer space which is what makes this campaign egregious IMHO. There's a formulaic feel to this "insta-social" campaign: Take 1 social term; Add 2 cups of social folky music, 20 cups of beautiful execution, 100 gallons of media weight, sprinkle in a dash of a Facebook page and Voila! You have a social savvy campaign.
I wish AMEX had given this campaign some strategic legs. I wish that in AMEX's desire to be social savvy - they didn't sacrifice clarity for the sake of cool. Ultimately though, I wish to convey a cautionary tale for all us marketers. We have an obligation to use these new words thoughtfully lest we bamboozle consumers, tainting the very wonderful new social based opportunities out there for all of us.
Judy Shapiro