American Express is well known globally for its charge cards, travel service and financial service. In the 19th century the company realized that it has taken beyond the scopes and branch out into the express shipping business. After slowly evolving into a global payments company, they introduced first charge card in 1958. Unlike other credit cards, the company collected on high annual fees that it thought would bring about prestige. Amex has prided themselves on their ability to move from the visible symbol that surpassed the travelers’ checks to being a strong competitor in the credit card industry. However, as they continued to expand, they found out that they needed to find a new and creative way to hold on to the status symbol that
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According to Wallace, “successful branding means that your target audience automatically associates your brand name with the value proposition that you are trying to provide” (2007) which was not the case here. Not everyone is in the financial position to pay off debts immediately after use of a credit card. As indicated, the company’s main target was to those who had the ability to pay in full, which they felt was segmented by brand loyalty and income.
Eventually all brands will reach the point at which the value of it will decline, like it had done for American Express. It may simply be the fact that the company was tackling more financial offerings than it could handle. Or perhaps customers’ needs may have changed, that were brought about by events out of your control like the global economy or the new competition with Visa and MasterCard. So, the important factor that needs to be considered is how can the company get it back to having a meaning once again.
At this point, you can choose to reinvent your brand and start again. Or you can build on the equity in your identity by choosing to refresh …show more content…
Branding will continue to be one tool that can be used by firms to fight competition and avoid price wars and commoditization (Anselmsson,Niklas & Bondesson. (2013). The company knew that it needed to devise its branding strategy that would appeal to the audience. To capture a significant market share, a strong devised strategy was going to be necessary. There were a few alternatives to their branding strategy that would be beneficial to the organization 's goal.
They began with their now familiar American Express logo in white with a blue background. That was how they used a brand extension, such as American Express blue cards targeting the younger adults and Centurion Black that targeted the elite customers with higher salary. Although they were exclusive, eventually, part of the planning was to become more inviting by adding new benefits such as special offers and reversing the limitations on carrying a balance to now offering flexible payments.
In general, wishing to minimize their risk they select American Express ' travel services due to the positive connotations the brand name evokes and the characteristics often associated with it (Davis, 2007). In other words, it exhibited a high end prestige that reminded others that it was an exclusive group of only a select few who can afford
According to Wallace, “successful branding means that your target audience automatically associates your brand name with the value proposition that you are trying to provide” (2007) which was not the case here. Not everyone is in the financial position to pay off debts immediately after use of a credit card. As indicated, the company’s main target was to those who had the ability to pay in full, which they felt was segmented by brand loyalty and income.
Eventually all brands will reach the point at which the value of it will decline, like it had done for American Express. It may simply be the fact that the company was tackling more financial offerings than it could handle. Or perhaps customers’ needs may have changed, that were brought about by events out of your control like the global economy or the new competition with Visa and MasterCard. So, the important factor that needs to be considered is how can the company get it back to having a meaning once again.
At this point, you can choose to reinvent your brand and start again. Or you can build on the equity in your identity by choosing to refresh …show more content…
Branding will continue to be one tool that can be used by firms to fight competition and avoid price wars and commoditization (Anselmsson,Niklas & Bondesson. (2013). The company knew that it needed to devise its branding strategy that would appeal to the audience. To capture a significant market share, a strong devised strategy was going to be necessary. There were a few alternatives to their branding strategy that would be beneficial to the organization 's goal.
They began with their now familiar American Express logo in white with a blue background. That was how they used a brand extension, such as American Express blue cards targeting the younger adults and Centurion Black that targeted the elite customers with higher salary. Although they were exclusive, eventually, part of the planning was to become more inviting by adding new benefits such as special offers and reversing the limitations on carrying a balance to now offering flexible payments.
In general, wishing to minimize their risk they select American Express ' travel services due to the positive connotations the brand name evokes and the characteristics often associated with it (Davis, 2007). In other words, it exhibited a high end prestige that reminded others that it was an exclusive group of only a select few who can afford