Ok I am not a huge fan of ‘friending’ brands on Facebook, but for once I think it is worth doing. American Express has launched a “Friends of Japan” campaign which is I understand its first-ever global social media program on Facebook.
For every ‘Message of Hope’ that people post on the American Express Japan’s Facebook page, the company will donate $1 towards earthquake relief in the nation. I’m not sure if there is an ‘upper limit’ on this one but I hope it goes viral and gets millions of hits.
Much has happened since the earthquake and the world has been quick to move on to other attention grabbing events, but the aftermath of this terrible event is not over with.
The campaign is translated into eight languages (Japanese, Chinese, English, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish) so should get even more support and let’s face it they can probably afford to give a sizable donation so let’s get this moving, the program will only run for eight weeks, so be sure to send a link about this on to your friends and family…. http://www.facebook.com/americanexpressjapan?sk=wall
Tags: American Express, AMEX, Friends of Japan, Japan Earthquake
MacArthur's Mutterings 
August 15, 2011 at 7:34 pm |
Colin – this is something I just can’t get behind. What ever happened to good old fashioned corporate philanthropy? I find the whole “like our page and we will give a cause some cash” very distasteful. Developing a page following on FB is one thing. Using a tragedy like Japan to build a page following is just wrong – a very distasteful marketing exercise.
American Express, if serious about Japan, should just give the money they have planned, and not use this as a little “sideline” project to boost their fans.
There is an estimate that a fan or a “like” of a page costs a brand between $1.50 and $2 USD – so why not use an exercise like this to boost page likes and get everyone feeling warm and fuzzy at the same time.
But maybe I am just too cynical to think a big brand like Amex would get a bit of return in their philanthropy by getting fans who otherwise would not like their page via this exercise. I dunno – but just maybe I’ve worked with enough marketing teams to think – no fuck it – to KNOW that this is what they are up to.
I think this is a shocking use of social media.
Just hand the money over Amex without all the bullshit
August 16, 2011 at 9:45 am |
Kelly good old fashioned corporate philanthropy still exist, but alas a lot of companies are choosing to go down this kind of path instead, I don’t feel any warmer about the brand and want to make sure I do what I can maximise the amount they end up giving, I think that with any type of corporate philanthropy there is almost always an element of the brand doing it of motives that go beyond just trying to help and they think about how the brand might benefit, that has almost always been the case, I think you are right Amex will get a bit of return in their philanthropy by getting fans who otherwise would not like their page via this exercise, but I also think that is what almost all companies look for form any form of philanthropy and why is doing it via social media and more shocking than more traditional avenues?