American Express is using a pair of online games to promote changes it made last fall to its gift-card procedures that make them, in the company’s words, “100% gift and 0% fees.”
Starting in early December, the company began a “’Twis the Season” competition on its @americanexpress Twitter account. Each business day through December 15, American Express randomly selected three participants to receive a $100 American Express Gift Card. Followers were asked to tweet daily telling American Express about a gift on their holiday wish list priced at $100 or less, using the #amexgiftcard hash tag.
Meanwhile, the company is conducting a virtual scratch-off game on the Web from now through January 30. Players register at the site using tan e-mail address and then use a digital ice scraper to clear off nine panes in a window. If they uncover three of the same Amex gift cards in a row, they can win a $25, $50 or $100 gift card instantly.
Every play of the scrape-off game enters the player into a drawing for a grand prize of a $5,000 American Express Gift Card.
The promotions are meant to publicize a change in the fees surrounding American Express gift Cards announced on September 30. While the cards have never carried expiration dates, never imposed activation fees and never charged consumers for either checking balances or replacing lost cards, they did in the past charge a monthly service fee on gift cards that went dormant. Previously the company had charged a monthly $2 fee starting one year after the card was issued.
In implementing the policy change, American Express exceeded the new gift-card and gift-certificate protections enacted as part of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act enacted by Congress in February and signed into law by pres. Obama in May. That rule says that gift cards and certifications cannot expire within five years of activation; but it still allows companies to charge service fees if cards have been unused for a year after activation.
In addition to playing the instant-win game and sweepstakes at the Winter Wonder-Win site, visitors can also click through a link to order American Express gift cards online in designs tailored to customers or to businesses.
As conceived and administered by promotion agency ePrize, the Winter Wonder-Win game contains an interesting wrinkle. Players can also earn one additional instant-win entry for every eligible friend to whom they refer the game. Referrers can volunteer up to three of their friends’ e-mail addresses each day. If at least one of those addresses is found to be valid, the referrer gets an extra try at the daily instant-win game.
Those of the friends who have not opted out of messages from American Express receive an e-mail telling them about the game and inviting them to play. The referrer earns the extra play per valid e-mail—up to one a day—regardless of whether that friend registers and plays the game.
Network
