Louis Ross, Director – UK Marketing, Merchant Services at American Express
Who are you and what is your team?
I’m Louis Ross, the UK Marketing Director at American Express and I’ve been working at the company for 8 years. I’m incredibly proud of the work our team does, more so than ever as we’ve been supporting small and large businesses adapt and recover from the effects of the pandemic. Businesses are looking for cost-effective ways to stimulate growth and our flagship partner program, Amex Offers, has already helped hundreds of Merchants drive millions of pounds in incremental spend.
What success have American Express seen through partnerships over recent years?
We want to make it easier for brands to partner with American Express. That’s why we created Amex Offers, our award-winning Card-Linked Offers program which connects Merchants to Cardmembers through cashback offers. Gone are the days where a B2B partnership requires 12 months of negotiation, half a dozen lawyers and a procurement process worse than a trip to the dentist! When a new partner reaches out to me, they are immediately assigned a single point of contact with specific experience in their industry. We see success through Amex Offers because it’s simple to participate, elicits immediate results and outrageously cost effective.
What are your partnership objectives
In the Amex Partner Marketing team we have just two objectives:
- help our Merchants’ businesses grow; and
- provide great rewards for our Cardmembers.
Having just these two objectives means that revenue generation for Amex is not on our thoughts. We’re able to offer Merchants our full suite of marketing channels targeting our entire membership base. Our Merchants fund the cashback to our Cardmembers, but pay nothing for the millions of impressions, clicks and engagements their campaign will receive. For many Merchants, Amex Offers is the most cost-effective acquisition channel in their marketing plans.
What types of partnerships are American Express looking to develop?
Our team are looking for large or growing brands with ambitious plans to attract new customers from our highly-engaged, high-spending Cardmember base. Amex Offers is proven to work for Merchants across all industries, but it is important to us that we introduce relevant brands to our Cardmembers. This means national and/or online presence is preferred, but not essential. To participate you needn’t be an established household name by any means, we have a great track record of supporting fast-growing online businesses and new brands.
How can brands get in touch with you?
They can contact me via our brand profile page and it’ll be my pleasure to introduce you to a member of my team who will use their industry knowledge to work out the best way for you to connect to our Cardmembers. I can’t wait to hear from you!