HOW TO REDUCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF AMERICAN EXPRESS’S DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGNS – A WAY TO BE GREEN AND MAKE GREEN

Abstract

With a global advertising budget of over $694 million American Express is considered the 45th largest marketer in the world. While the company has numerous marketing channels available to deliver their advertising message, the most common channel used by American Express is direct mail. Direct mail campaigns have a substantial environmental impact, however with careful management this environmental footprint can be reduced while also improving the company’s overall economic picture. The objective of this project is to provide American Express with key recommendations for how they can minimize the environmental impact associated with each phase of their direct mail process while concurrently minimizing costs, strengthening brand reputation and increasing overall profitability. These various recommendations were evaluated on three criteria: (1) ease of implementation, (2) environmental impact and (3) economic impact. Ultimately all three criterions were taken into consideration to produce a final priority ranking of each recommendation.