We created a challenge: one person will travel through Costa Rica paying all his or her expenses only with an American Express card. In the teaser phase of the campaign, the public had to guess who this person would be, in order to earn a prize. Then we revealed his identity: Warner Rojas, the only Costa Rican to summit the Everest. Warner’s odyssey was told in three webisodes, in which he had to pass three tests, such as finding the best Rice & Beans in a town, or convincing a total stranger to join him in descending the rapids of the Pacuare River. The webisodes were a tribute to Costa Rica's natural beauty and its people way of life.

Each time Warner paid with his American Express, a promo was activated in that venue for those who also paid with AMEX.

The campaign started with a teaser promotion on Facebook, that challenged the public to guess the identity of the explorer.

A week later we revealed who that person was in the first webisode, which was also published on Facebook, on YouTube, and on the website.

The website had pictures and interactions of Warner Rojas during his journey in real-time. Also, pre-arranged promotions were activated in the venues he had to visit. This was done at the exact time he paid there.

A digital native campaign reinforced the message and drove traffic.

Two more webisodes were released later (one webisode each week).

The campaign was a huge success for American Express, who showcased it in its global intranet The Square as one of its most effective ever. Even the Costa Rica chamber of Tourism got on board.

After the campaign, there was a 250% surge in AMEX card enrollment in Costa Rica, due to the improvement in the perception of coverage near actual coverage levels.

There were 657,741 views of the content, with an increase of 50% in the Facebook page fans. The engagement level of the content was 5.7%, in a financial service category, and in a country with 1-2% average.

Not being a goal for the campaign, it achieved one extra critical success: an increase of 5% of real acceptance by the stores and shops in Costa Rica, who added American Express as a form of payment because they felt they could lose some income otherwise.