American Express TV Spot Captures A Hard-to-visualize Key To Entrepreneurial Success

Even if a business stands to make big money in the long run, it may need help along the way, a point the latest TV spot from American Express makes as it tells the story of firm that brings another essential resource to those who can’t do without it.

In “From Idea To Impact,” the American Express commercial takes viewers from an industrial-style bunker where a bearded, bespectacled company founder and his team draw up blueprints, study a range of data sources and develop an unnamed product or service. Next, the take to the road to what looks like a country somewhere in Africa, where they set up an irrigation system that spews out water from a tap, prompting celebration among local farmers.

The point is that these kind of fledgling firms would not get to that kind of point without the capital they need, which is where American Express’s flexible financing options come in. The company notes is business specialists will “help you buy what you need, when your business needs it,” which may be an allusion to the danger of startup ventures over-extending themselves early on. The image of bringing water to the thirty comes across as a subtle but natural metaphor for American Express and its business funding services.

The 30-second spot — which was developed with American Express agency partners MindShare, Wieden+Kennedy and Universal McCann — ends with a simple line drawing-style image of one of its cards around the story’s protagonists. In some respects, it offers a complement of sorts to a consumer-themed commercial from American Express that debuted in the middle of last year, which focused on the challenge of remote workers and solo entrepreneurs who need to balance their work with family issues like taking care of an infant.

Besides marketing to entrepreneurs, a recent story on PYMTS reported American Express is also targeting the B2B sector by conducting tests on blockchain-based payments system Ripplenet.