It was my pleasure to interview via email Jeff Atlas, the lead creative behind the celebrated American Express campaign 26 years ago to restore to glory the Statue of Liberty. The campaign launched modern cause marketing. Jeff’s client, Jerry Welsh, who was executive vice president worldwide marketing and communications at American Express, even coined the term ‘cause-related marketing.’ Like a show that gets tested in regional theaters before going to Broadway, Amex tried out cause-related marketing first regionally before bringing it to New York and Lady Liberty. Atlas writes, “It started in small regional efforts to support the arts. ‘Eat for the Arts’ was one memorable line we used. Another directed people to American Express Travel offices. ‘If you love the Dallas ballet, go away.’ Then came an effort to help Mount Vernon [George Washington’s home], then the Statue of Liberty. The rest is marketing history.” The first thing I posed to Jeff wasn’t so much a question as a ...
Dedicated to highlighting and dissecting the best and the worst cause marketing promotions and campaigns.