American Express Company, often abbreviated as AmEx, is a financial company known for its international reach and wide availability. As one of the 30 institutions in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, AmEx is currently ranked as the 22nd most valuable brand in the world, due in part to the level and shape of brand rhetoric the company utilizes. By studying how AmEx utilizes rhetoric, we can analyze and improve our own strategies.
Ethos (Authority)
As a financial institution, Ethos is incredibly important to AmEx. Without a status of authority and respect, customers would not trust or desire the product. As such, AmEx makes an effort to convey its scope of coverage and long history to build consumer trust.
In addition, American Express is known for having a number of advertising campaigns featuring celebrities as endorsers, including Jerry Seinfeld, Kate Winslet, Robert De Niro, Tina Fey, and Ellen DeGeneres. Celebrity endorsers do nothing to make the company inherently more trustworthy, but they can increase public perception. Consumers see celebrities, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, using and trusting the product, and are left with a sense of trust and respect.
Pathos (Emotion)
American Express’s most famous slogan, “Don’t leave home without it,” is a form of pathos. The slogan, catchy and concise, helps to convey a sense of necessity and security to AmEx’s primary audience. Typical AmEx customers are concerned with finances, at least to some degree, so financial necessity and security are very important emotions to be associated with. AmEx leverages this to its advantage, also incorporating the Ethos of celebrities to deliver messages of security and trust.
AmEx has also established itself as an important cause marketer, partnering with a number of nonprofit businesses to bolster its brand Pathos. The company first gained success in aiding the Statue of Liberty Restoration Project, and has partnered with hundreds of companies, with programs including their Charge Against Hunger campaign. This association is a form of corporate social responsibility, and helps to further build feelings of trust and humanity in their audience.
Logos (Logic)
Surprisingly, AmEx utilizes only a minimal amount of Logos in its advertising. Rather than explicitly talking about its low rates, its wide range of use and high availability, AmEx focuses more on building its authority as a trusted brand and instilling sentiments of respect and personal warmth.
AmEx continues to use its authoritative slogan, celebrity endorsements, and partnerships with charitable organizations to help construct a rhetoric that conveys trust, warmth, and respect. This level of consumer appeal has helped build AmEx to its current standing as one of the biggest and most respected companies in the world.
