American Express Rolls Citizen Marketing Effort

American Express has launched a promotion called 15 Second Clips that invites participants to submit a 15 second ad about their lives. It's themed after My Life, My Card ads featuring celebs.

PodGuide TV, while praising this effort, is skeptical about the citizen marketing approach overall. He says that it backfired with Chevy's attempt to allow users to make their own spots. I disagree. Even though the Chevy effort resulted ads instead about gas-guzzling SUVs, we're still talking about this campaign. 

The Amex effort offers a highlight reel of the submissions as a feed (RSS). The campaign judges are acclaimed directors Martin Scorsese and M. Night Shyamalan. I like this idea lot, but I feel that Amex could have made it stronger by letting consumers judge the campaigns, not just the celebrities. In addition, they might generate more submissions by partnering with a large video community like YouTube or by letting vloggers enter via a special tag like My Life, My Card.

It should be interesting to see where this goes.

Comments

[Joy]

I can't seem to access the user-generated 15-min clips website. Although, I have to say that I can't see many Amex ads going sour like those of a SUV like Chevy which is a gas guzzler..

[Alexander Muse]

Steve,

I was surprised that I watched the 15 second shorts, I was even more surprised how many of them caused me to chuckle (I liked the green monster with googly eyes best). This won't work for many companies, but I think it is working for Amex...

Alex