The Brief

The credit card market is cluttered with countless competitors. Being the latest card to emerge, we had to stand out in this messy landscape. The incumbent issuer has been Cathay Pacific’s only partner for the last decade. We need to migrate their members to us and reach out to other frequent flyers. We also had to contend with the threat that the previous issuer would launch their own mileage-earning card. It was therefore imperative that we captured the market before they did. Our key objective was to: Drive card acquisition & activation, Achieve high awareness of our new brand quickly.

Creative Execution

The campaign is designed based on the insight that Hong Kongers long to escape from their daily routine and get to a foreign land where there is space to breathe and time to rediscover themselves. Targeting miles junkies/ frequent flyers, key benefits were developed to provide cardmembers with instant gratification focused in Asia Miles. They can earn miles and FLY FASTER with our card – which is the proposition of our campaign.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Building upon the core consumer insight: Hong Kongers absolutely crave travel, and they hate waiting for the chance to do it. The core idea for the campaign is: American Express Cathay Pacific Credit Card – Fly Faster The formula for success was to establish a direct and instant mental connection between our new card and travel. We demonstrated this by using credit cards to construct well-known landmarks. The Card literally “builds” your dream holiday, emphasizing the ease and speed with which you could earn Asia Miles – thus satisfying the twin desires of our travel hungry but time-starved audiences.

Results

Most successful card acquisition campaign ever in Hong Kong for American Express. Highest card acquisition in American Express Hong Kong history: 81% significantly higher than planned targets. Highest brand awareness in category! We succeeded in achieving higher awareness than any other airline co-brand card, many had been in market for few years. We also achieved what we set out to do, that is to outshine the key competitor, Citibank’s new mileage card. Unexpectedly high response rate in digital channel: Digital channels generated 39% of the total new cards acquired, which was 27 times above target