Corporate Brand and PR

A companies brand image is one of the most important factors in being successful and having a strong following. Consumers want to work with or buy products from a company that has a strong brand name and can be trusted. If your company is not known for great work, honesty, and ethics you will not be very successful. American Express has been able to great such a strong brand name that they are often sought out by other corporations to partner together for particular events or products. AmEx is known for being an elite banking institution that thrives to be the worlds most respected brand service.

To create such a strong brand name and ensure a large following the company has involved the public relations team. The AmEx PR team has created a number of campaigns to keep customers coming back while bringing in new ones. The company has decided to use celebrity endorsements to show how powerful and respected the corporation is. The company explains to the public (mostly though advertising) which celebrities are American Express card members thus showing the public who trusts them to handle their finances. Over the years there have been numerous advertisements involving: Ellen Degeneres, Jerry Senifeld, and Tiger Woods. The company has chosen to work with these people because they reach out to their target audience. Once the public is aware of which celebrities use AmEx the PR team is able to get creative and further utilize the sponsorships.

American Express will host events and have particular celebrities at the events to promote the brand name. It is the public relations teams job to make sure the media and the public understand these people are their supporting their corporation and believe in the company. The PR team makes sure the celebrities understand the company and their mission this way the relationship is mutually beneficial for both parties.

American Express wants the public and the media to understand they are always there for their customers thus they are a reliable brand. The public relations team often issue press releases informing the media and public about new products, new services, and special deals exclusively for card members. The PR also keeps the public up to date on relevant information by using social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook. When the public knows what is going on within the company and the good things that are being done for card members the brand image is strengthened. It is the PR teams job to keep that brand image strong and the American Express team does a great job of keeping the public up to date.

As I stated before American Express makes sure they look into every relationship they develop to ensure it is appropriate for their image and their customers. When AmEx decided to work with bank insinuations to issue cards they wanted to ensure they kept their strong brand name in tact. Once they made the decision to work with certain banks the public relations team created a Frequently Asked Questions page on their web site to help the public understand this new relationship. In this section the PR team explains that these relationships will "strengthen our brand image" and the company will only work with respectable institutions. AmEx wanted the public to understand they were doing this to make their company stronger and further benefit their customers.
Once a company has created a strong brand name it is important to keep that image in tact and takes a lot of work. The public relations team should be kept up to date on all relevant information within the company so they can insure the companies strong image remains. The PR team needs to know if a merger is going to happen or if there is a crisis within the company so they can do their best to make sure the company's image does not suffer. A company with a strong brand name is often able to overcome many issues or crisis with the help of a good public relations team so it is important to build a strong brand.

Corporate Crisis

Crisis can occur at any given moment and can have major impacts on a corporation or a brand but can also become an opportunity to grow and develop. Companies need to be prepared to deal with crisis before they occur and should be aware of all potential crisis within their own organization. This way when something does go wrong they are to prepared to act and can do so quickly. However there are of course some instances when crisis can occur which can not be avoided due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather or employee misdeeds. Fortunately for American Express, it appears they have done a great job being prepared for any and all crisis that may happen within their company. I did some research and could not come up with any real crisis that AmEx was forced to face. This does not mean that a crisis did not occur but the company could have done a great job of revolving that issue quickly with limited media exposure.

American Express has such a strong brand name that I am sure they do everything possible to protect that name. This means they must have a team in place to deal with all potential crisis that could occur within the company. The probably have plans in place in case something does go wrong so they can act quickly to fix the issue. However, in recent years with the economy not doing so well, companies like American Express have been forced to deal with major issues. This is not particularly a crisis that affects the company directly but does have major impacts on the corporation. As a card member I know the company is doing a lot to keep their clients informed about current information from the government regarding credit cards. They have created a consumer resources page on their web site to keep customers up to date on relevant information. This is a place people can go to figure out how the credit card reform affects them directly. The company has also been sending out direct mail pieces in the recent months to again keep customers informed. I am sure the public relations teams at AmEx have been involved in the planning of these initiatives. American Express is doing a great job of avoiding panic and a potential crisis by keeping their customers informed.

Seeing as American Express has done such a great job avoiding major crisis and keeping their customers informed I am going to spend some time looking further into AmEx's Twitter. I briefly discussed the companies social media campaign a few months ago but have recenlty been very impressed with the way they use Twitter to interact with customers. The company has created two different Twitter accounts with two different functions.
One Twitter account is used as a general way to get information out to the public as well as a way to give updates on current promotions and products. AmericanExpress Twitter is very informative for those interested in what is going on within the company and how things can affect them as customers or a member of the public. AmEx keeps the public informed quickly and efficiently by constantly updating their account. People rely on social media to get information to them at all times and this is put to good use by AmEx.

The other Twitter account, Ask AmEx, is used by a team of five American Express employees (four pictured to the right) exclusively to resolve customers concerns. Here, customers can Tweet any issues they are having with their cards, statements, or any other problems relating to customer service. This is a great use of social media because customers are able to directly interact with a major corporation on a personal level quickly. This way they do not need to waste time on the phone calling customer service to have a simple issue resolved. This use of Twitter also shows the general public how quickly American Express is able to resolve issues and how they can satisfy customers quickly and efficiently. Using social media like this is so important because it shows people how your company deals with customers concerns and issues with service.

American Express does a great job handling crisis and social media which further proves what a strong company it is. The company has created such a strong brand name and they do everything possible to keep that name in tact. They want their customers to know they are there for them at all times and do their best to keep them informed regarding relevant information. Being prepared and planning for all possibilities is crucial for any corporation and AmEx does a great job of doing this.