American Express has a history of delivering Cardmembers premium access to entertainment experiences that reinforce the value of membership. From early on-sale tickets, to preferred seating - American Express gets Cardmembers behind the velvet rope.

This approach has been successful so it’s no surprise that rival brands became imitators, introducing their own competitive access platforms (Visa Signature, Priceless.com, etc.) diluting American Express’ differentiation.

Therefore our challenge is always what can American Express do next that reinvents the format and captures people’s imagination?

In 2010, American Express did just that by creating ‘American Express Unstaged’: a ground breaking live streaming concert series. American Express Unstaged took the world’s biggest artists, shot through the lens of legendary film directors, and brought to audiences through the power of social and digital.

In 2012, we had to take things to the next level. To reach more fans beyond the walls of the venue than ever before and once again push the platform away from the competition.

With the advent of cheaper streaming technology, the now familiar problem of our original model being copied by rivals and the fact that live-streaming concerts had become more commonplace, we had to work out how to reinvent again.

We’ve forged a keynote partnership and multi-year deal with two partners to create a first-ever web series dedicated to top-tier, live concerts. VEVO, brought usage rights and industry relationships, YouTube, brought scale and back-end infrastructure. This provided media inventory as well as organic editorial placements

In 2012, the platform went beyond the PC, bringing an immersive concert experience to all screens. UNSTAGED became the first ever live-stream concert on iTV, XBOX LIVE, tablet, and mobile devices – streaming in 1080pHD & enabling users to select multiple camera angles.

We created a music moment of global scale, creating massive resonance beyond the concert venue

• Total Live Stream Views: 1MM+

• Total On-Demand Views: 2MM+

• Diverse Global Audience: 40% US viewers, 60% global

• Deep Engagement: 12 minute average live viewership time

We re-defined artist and fan connection in a live experience resulting in scaled engagement

• 26K+ on-page social posts (Facebook/Twitter) during live event

• Organic Twitter trending topic: USA, France, London, Indonesia, Mongolia

• Visits to “Take the Stage” submission site: 38K+

• Submissions of custom digital avatars: ~10k

• Shares of digital avatars: ~4k

We surveyed fans during the live event to measure how Usher Unstaged and “Take the Stage” impacted key American Express brand attributes

• Brand Favorability: 33% Lift

• Perception of American Express as innovative and forward thinking: 38% lift

• “American Express is for me and my lifestyle”: 25% lift

• Sponsorship Association with American Express: 264% lift

*Sources: American Express Omniture Tracking, Google Analytics, Insight Express, YouTube/Conviva Reporting