In this 244th episode of Marketing Today, I’m speaking to Clayton Ruebensaal, American Express Executive Vice President, Global B2B Marketing. Ruebensaal talks about his experiences in developing brand strategies for premium brands and his vision for the future.
We begin our conversation with an insight into Ruebensaal’s world travel experience as a child who grew up with a father on foreign service. Ruebensaal discusses how his time in so many different cultures shaped his worldview and awakened his interest in all people.
We then talk about Ruebensaal’s journey to date and the success he had with Ritz Carlton and American Express where he works now, and attribute that success to his teams’ ability to refresh the brand. “We have dealt with this story and found truths that we can bring to life,” claimed Ruebensaal. He then goes on to explain the challenges brands face in overhaul and how “the difference between success and failure is change management.”
We then discuss how not only COVID but also the death of George Floyd changed the mission at AMEX. Marketers “sit at this interface between the needs of the company and the needs of consumers.” Ruebensaal sees this as an opportunity to have a positive impact on the world.
Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:
- Clayton was born in Georgetown into a military family that took him to Thailand and Israel around the world. 2:19
- With the travel experience at such a young age, Clayton was still able to feel gratitude. 2:56
- Clayton didn’t exactly have a path to follow after graduating as a Creative Writing Major. 3:45
- After his first advertising internship at an advertising company, Clayton knew exactly what he wanted to do. 4:30
- Before Clayton moved to the customer side at Ritz Carlton, he ran several advertising agencies and eventually switched to American Express. 5:10
- At both Ritz Carlton and American Express, there was a great need to refresh the clarity of their respective brands. 5:55
- Before Clayton arrived, American Express hadn’t updated its brand and logo since 1975. 7:27
- Clayton knew that with the advent of the Internet came the need to think bigger for American Express. 7:50
- It takes effective change management to bring a brand to life after years of continuity. 8:47
- Clayton and his team have spent a lot of time speaking with AMEX teams around the world to understand how the brand can help them. 9:38
- After overhauling two major brands, Clayton has found that it is best to first understand the problem that needs to be resolved. 10:59
- Although the events of 2020 accelerated things, they did not change the fundamentals of marketing. 12:45
- What started as a health crisis turned into multiple crises in the economic and cultural sectors. 13:27
- When COVID broke out, Clayton and his team took a break to investigate where they could be most helpful. 14:12
- American Express launched its business class platform to inform companies about their options. 15:37
- Every week American Express tries to offer education in a different and attractive way. 17:16
- Over the past 40 years, business has gotten sexy and something people love to be a part of. 17:58
- It is incredibly important for marketers to post organic content that adds value to the business. 19:17
- Useful doesn’t have to mean that uninteresting and useful content has to compete with everything out there. 21:06
- After George Floyd was murdered, AMEX made sure they didn’t take advantage of the moment. 22:34
- AMEX launched its 100 for 100 program to provide education and mentoring to black entrepreneurs and business owners. 23:40
- The gap between the percentage of black-owned companies and the percentage of revenue from these companies is due to systemic racism. 25:28
- Clayton attributes his experience in so many different cultures to his worldview and interest in people. 29:03
- In retrospect, Clayton wishes he hadn’t stressed so much about little things. 30:00
- The Lincoln Project is one of the brands Clayton admires most. 33:45
- Clayton believes that marketers and their tunnel focus can adversely affect their ability to change customer behavior. 35:45
Mentioned resources:
Subscribe to the podcast:
Listen in iTunes (Link: http://apple.co/2dbdAhV)
Listen in Google Podcast (Link: http://bit.ly/2Rc2kVa)
Listen in Spotify (Link: http://spoti.fi/2mCUGnC)
Connect with Marketing Today and Alan Hart:
Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of Marketing Today with Alan Hart, a weekly podcast interviewing leading global marketers and executives. Alan advises senior executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies but is essentially an entrepreneur who has founded or served as an executive in nine startups.