As remote work continues to take priority in the pandemic, American Express has a unique place for people to catch a breath of fresh air while checking off their to-do list.
As part of its “Built for Business” campaign, the financial services company created installations in New York City, Chicago and Austin on Wednesday, designed for business owners on the go. These include billboards that turn into desks, park benches with charging stations and phone booths for people to take work calls in private. People can use the “office space” in New York City’s Madison Square Park from September 22-24, Chicago’s Pioneer Court from September 28 – 30 and Austin’s Republic Square from October 5 – 7.
The stunt aims to show that American Express Business Cards are built for business, said Jessica Ling, SVP, global B2B marketing, American Express.
“The campaign aims to capture people’s attention while enabling them to work from anywhere,” she said in an email. “We hope to not only stand out from the crowd, but also showcase to specific communities the benefits of using a business card to run your business, all in a welcoming, and entertaining fashion.”
The cities were selected based on where American Express observed people were conducting business while on the go.
American Express expects people to take full advantage of the out of home activation, but acknowledges people’s concerns due to the pandemic. “Safety is always our top priority, so elevated cleaning protocols will also be in place,” Ling added.
The campaign is part of American Express’ integrated marketing campaign “Built for Business,” targeting small and mid-size business owners. Earlier this year, the campaign launched a short film series called ‘Business Card Chronicles,” which showed off American Express’ Business Card benefits. The videos, directed by Brian Beletic, included “The Bunny,” “The Crane” and “The Laptop.”
The campaign also includes two new videos for the national and local markets. The national video, directed by Jake Dypka, shows how American Express Business Cards support business owners as they expand. In one clip, a hair salon becomes responsible for a viral hairdo while a bike shop turns into a cycling studio.
The local videos feature personalized ads starring small business owners in cities like Philadelphia, Austin, Denver, Las Vegas, Nashville and Seattle. The ads will also run across OOH and local TV and radio stations.
The overall “Built for Business” campaign includes national broadcast and cable TV, streaming online video, audio and podcast, social, search, email, display, print and more.
“We hope the installations will capture business owners’ attention as they are a physical outdoor representation of how our Business Cards are built to meet the B2B spending and payment needs of small and mid-size businesses,” Ling added.