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Let's start with Amex Offers business. As a card holder, I see them and I'm familiar with card linking via Cardlytics. I understand the basic elements of activating it and getting savings. But I've never understood how it fits into the Amex organization, how the revenue model works, how it ties into the merchant acquiring business, and whether it's more about accepting the card or getting paid to be an advertiser. Could you start by describing the business and then I can ask more detailed follow-up questions?

Many marketing teams have substantial budgets and cover the cost of customer offers. When I was there, around 30% to 40% of these offers were paid for by Amex. These are typically the larger offers. For instance, all the multiplier campaigns on membership rewards were largely funded by American Express.

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Could you explain the process of sourcing merchants, designing campaigns with or for them, and measuring performance to provide feedback to them?

Different sales or marketing teams focus on a vertical, but their work spans across the three client service teams, depending on the merchant's level. Some of the larger merchants, like the co-brands, receive a special budget from Amex as part of their agreement to maintain an exclusive relationship.

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Could you explain the process of sourcing merchants, designing campaigns with or for them, and measuring performance to provide feedback to them?

There's a combination of approaches. Depending on the merchant, it could be a "spend X get Y" deal, or they might run Membership Rewards (MR) campaigns. These could either be multiplier campaigns or "Spend X, get Y MR points" deals. The team is incentivized to sell MR because that's the only way Amex Offers can directly turn a profit.

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