CardMarketing 2.0

The world is a crazy place. I'll rephrase that. People are crazy. In fact, I'll rephrase that, too. Cats are crazy. Wtf? Get to the point, man — spit it out. OK, here goes...

Firstly, I'd like to say that I'm not taking backhanders from Amex. In the Members Project, they have a great 2.0 marketing campaign, and talking 2.0, as far as I can gather, is what this blog is all about. It hasn't been suggested that I'm getting the rub, but I thought I'd just make it clear as this is about the third time I've shot them some ink in the past month. Of course, if they'd like to talk, then...

Isn't comScore great? These dudes just churn it out and provide us with no end of interesting and highly relevant stats and facts relating to the online marketing world. Here are a few snippets from June...

God, I nearly dropped off there. Now where was I? Oh yes, a recent survey by the New York-based Luxury Institute has revealed (for the greater benefit of mankind) that the credit card the very high net worth most like to carry around in their wallets is the American Express Centurion. Not content with first place, Amex took silver and bronze, too, with its Platinum and MasterCard World Elite cards.

On July 3, the Top 50 projects will be announced in Amex's ongoing 'The Members Project' campaign (we covered its launch, here). As I write, an advisory panel of independent experts, including Gabrielle Reece, the professional volleyball player, and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at Harvard Business School (how I'd like to be a fly on that wall), are busy reviewing the projects that have received the most Amex cardmember ratings.

The cleverest bit about the American Airlines/MasterCard/Universal Studios 'Sum It Up Sweepstakes', where people guess how many AAdvantage miles Jason Bourne racks up as he chases other forgettable characters around the world in "The Bourne Ultimatum", isn't the prizes (one million AAdvantage miles, trips to LA, a $6000 MasterCard gift card, DVDs of the movie, a naked mudwrestling session with Matt Damon — well, maybe not)...

London. Early June. A limpid Saturday morning. Just gone half eight. I've pulled up outside Caffè Nero in Crystal Palace to buy my usual beginning of the weekend double tall skinny cap/skinny blueberry muffin (for me), double tall skinny latte/raspberry and Belgian white chocolate muffin (for her), and croissant to share (for them). Outside, the sun is shining and I feel, for a split second, faintly optimistic about life. That second soon passes.

American Express, take a bow. They, or the agency they use, have come up with a real mean 2.0 campaign. It's the mutt's nuts and has got a bit of everything: conversation, participation, user-generated content/voting, an alluring timeline, engagement with its cardmembers and endless possibilities. It's about what matters to Amex cardmembers and how these members can make a positive impact on the world around them. It's called The Members Project.

Wirecard Bank AG is the first German bank to set up shop in 3D online world, Second Life. The bank's virtual arm went live in mid-May and has been dubbed a "strategic positioning" by execs. Sounds impressive, but is it? Horace Artaud rocked up, ABN AMRO T-shirt and all, to find out...

The website of 70s band, the Grateful Dead, is currently being converted into a "full blown social network". Like I care, I hear you say. Well, you should because the development of websites into social communities is set to be one of the defining online events in the years ahead. The website, as we know it, is on borrowed time.