American Express Co. is sponsoring its second "Unstaged" concert series, which kicks off March 23 with Duran Duran performing at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles.
American Express launched "Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express" in 2010 with concerts from such artists as Arcade Fire, Sugarland and John Legend. It sponsors the concerts to reward cardholders and to attract music lovers to the American Express brand.
"We know our cardmembers are passionate about music, and we looked at how we would serve our cardmembers and the music industry by creating a platform for an amazing artist and director," Jessica Igoe, American Express' vice president of global sponsorship marketing, said in an interview.
The New York-based company offered concert tickets only to American Express cardholders through its online newsletters and through Facebook. The show sold out in five minutes, Igoe said.
The concert series is broadcast on YouTube.com's VEVO music channel, and American Express brings in a famous director to produce the show online. David Lynch ("Eraserhead," "Blue Velvet," the "Twin Peaks" television series, among other credits) will take the helm for Duran Duran's show.
Amex is also opening this series to online music fans from Canada and the U.K., Igoe said. Last year the shows were available only to U.S. viewers.
"With each year, we look at how we make the experience more relevant for cardmembers and more exciting than the last one," Igoe said.
Amex is brainstorming ways to give cardholders more exclusive content through the online presentation, she said.
The online event is not a direct sales pitch for Amex — there are no pop-ups saying "apply for a card here" — but the company is still interested in more subtle means of acquiring new customers, Igoe said.
"We think we can attract new cardholders by being authentic in the music space," Igoe said.
"We don't do it in a heavy-handed, 'salesy' kind of way," she continued. "It's more important to be relevant to the consumer in something they love."
The concerts are interactive online. Viewers may choose their own camera angles, send questions to the band over Twitter for a preshow interview and vote for the closing song.
