AUDREY FLEISHER

OPENForum.com, sponsored by American Express OPEN, is a platform built for small business owners to build trust, inspire and acquire new card members. The site offers exclusive video interviews with diverse experts, white papers, web casts and blogs for business focused users. A custom engineered syndicated content player, using built-in intelligence to adjust to media relevant placements and what the user has already seen, publishes OPEN Forum videos on prominent small business sites. Syndicating rich video content from OPEN Forum brings content to the user when and where it is most relevant, creating new levels of customer engagement.

 

Challenge:
Develop a best-in-class platform that provides resources for small business owners to help them to grow their business - through access to content that is developed or facilitated by American Express OPEN and through collaboration with other small business owners.

 

Business/Campaign Objectives:
1. Build brand engagement, positioning American Express OPEN as a trusted resource to inspire and enable business growth
2. Proliferate content (ie. video, articles, seminars, conversations) online
3. Acquire new customers
4. Build loyalty

 

Creative Strategy:
Using OPENforum.com as a platform, American Express OPEN strives to connect small business owners to the best in business by facilitating conversations. There are three main principles that we use to help build conversation:
1. Say something different - To create conversation, you have to have something unique and new to say.
2. Invite Influencers to participate - It's important to involve the people who are already actively involved in the conversation.
3. Scale the conversation online - To achieve scale and ultimately invite more people to join the conversation, we scale our programs by bringing them online.

 

Solution:
We built OPENForum.com around content, conversation and events that inspire the participation and involvement of small business entrepreneurs. Videos, white papers, blogs, and online events make up the wide range of tools for small business owners that are featured on the site. Exclusive interviews with diverse masters of industry (ie Seth Godin, Barbara Barry, Sydney Pollack, Richard Branson and Michael Graves to name a few) provide wisdom, guidance, dialogue and inspiration for business owners. In addition, timely, relevant topics of discussion on the most prominent business websites, are supported by an OPEN Forum branded syndicated content player. Casting a broader reach for the OPEN Forum video content, the player intelligently displays a selection to video discussions with experts that are relevant to the site's page content. The player remembers which links a viewer has clicked and avoids repeating video selections that have already been viewed. It also links users back to OPEN Forum and card acquision if they are moved to apply.

Results:
-         Google search for “American Express OPEN” results in OPENforum.com as its top natural search item.
-         Card acquisition applicants that are on average more qualified than other online media placements by 190%.