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AmEx—the company behind that heavy credit card your friend is always flashing—is updating its advertising business.
As it announced earlier this month, the premium credit card company will let advertisers target new American Express customers with offers, like discounts and rewards, as early as five days after they get their credit card. Previously, the company had a lag of roughly 30 days.
The update will open up inventory to advertisers, just as new card holders attempt to hit lucrative spending bonuses.
So what? If any of this feels familiar, that’s because Chase just overhauled its advertising business in April and will bring its targeting capabilities in-house.
Financial service companies are cashing in on the booming retail media category, which is projected to be a $166 billion industry by 2025, according to eMarketer. Just this month, Uber’s ad business surpassed the $1 billion mark. Walmart’s, meanwhile, was estimated at $3.4 billion, according to the company’s fiscal 2024 year-end earnings report, and its global ad business grew 26% YoY during Q2, it reported earlier this month.
“As a retailer, they know what happens in the four walls of that retail store. I can tell them how my card members behave, not only in that store, but others in their peer set, in that industry vertical,” Erin Frankcombe, VP and general manager of AmEx Offers and Business Insights, told Marketing Brew. “That is a pretty powerful advantage.”
Through AmEx, advertisers can target users based on trends, like holiday shopping, or in more targeted ways, like a retailer enticing “lapsed shoppers” or consumers of a specific vertical, Frankcombe explained. Advertisers can either go through AmEx directly or through a third-party like Cardlytics, she said. As with Chase, Frankcombe said that if advertisers go through AmEx directly, the company will be able to share more data.
Though Frankcombe didn’t say how large the audience for AmEx’s advertising business is, the company says its members enrolled in 341 million AmEx offers in 2023.