American Express/Amex TV Spot with Dave Matthews, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brian Grazer and Tina Turner

Just saw the first spot in a new celebrity campaign called "Membership Moments" from American Express/Amex featuring Dave Matthews, Gwyneth Paltrow and Brian Grazer (producer) and Tina Turner. The omnibus spot was long and it faced the tough task of breaking through a Thanksgiving crowd. Without hearing the copy...it signaled the familiar membership/prestige theme. More later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

OK..it's Black Friday and I'm still stuffed. I just looked at this spot another dozen times in the last 24 hours.

Here's my problem: The spot has the patina of sophisticated advertising: great timbre to the voices, an engaging track, terrific production to piece together all the discrete footage, previously shot. All that lulls you into a soporific state where you don't really consider what's really being said. But when you look and listen carefully, it's problematic. Somehow, huge emotional events in these stars live are linked directly to the date they became members. Dave is empowered in '94. Gwyneth becomes independent in '94. Brian becomes confident because Amex somehow "validates" and "respects" him (fortunately no one else would agree to say that). And Tina gains her freedom in '77 (which she actually did in that period from Ike).

I'm not buying it one bit. By and large seems like a sell-out to me. And, if advertising ain't believable, it's pretty much worthless.


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