American Express is launching an advertising campaign announcing it is awarding more reward miles per dollar than the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which also has a pact with Air Canada.
American Express will offer three versions of a new AeroplanPlus charge card, with fees ranging between US$60 and US$399 a year.
The most expensive American Express offering, AeroplanPlus Platinum, will target frequent business travellers and allow consumers to earn as many as 1.6 Aeroplan miles for each dollar charged to the card. CIBC's Aerogold Visa credit card offers one point per dollar charged.
But unlike credit cards, which can be paid over time, charge-card balances must be paid in full each month.
Developed by marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather, the American Express blitz will begin with a pair of television commercials and outdoor billboards.
In the first televised ad, which will air tomorrow, a girl on a beach in the Maritimes skips a stone across the water. The stone somehow makes its way past a gondola in a Venice canal.
"When you earn miles faster, everything gets closer," the ad campaign's tagline says.
In a second commercial, a man on a busy downtown street bends down to tie his shoes. When he gets up, he has been transported to a serene Japanese garden and is greeted by a trio of geishas.
American Express director of advertising Ava Kelly said the marketing campaign will run through July. She declined to say how much the ads will cost the company.
