244: Premium Brands and Business Marketing with AMEX's Clayton Ruebensaal

On this 244th episode of "Marketing Today," host Alan Hart speaks with Clayton Ruebensaal, executive vice president of Global B2B Marketing at American Express. Ruebensaal talks about his experience developing brand strategies for premium brands and his vision for the future.We start our conversation with a dive into Ruebensaal's world-travel experience as a child, having grown up with a father in the foreign service. Ruebensaal discusses how his time spent in so many different cultures shaped his view of the world and brought about his interest in all people.We then speak on Ruebensaal's journey to the present day and the success that he has had with Ritz Carlton and American Express, where he works now, and attributes that success to his teams' ability to refresh the brand. "We reached into that history and found truths that we could bring to life," Ruebensaal claimed. He then breaks down the challenges that brands face when attempting to revamp and how "the difference between success and failure is the change management."We then discuss how not only COVID but the death of George Floyd changed the mission at AMEX. Marketers "sit at this intersection between what the business needs and what the consumer needs." Ruebensaal sees that as an opportunity to make a positive impact on the world.Highlights from this week's "Marketing Today": Clayton was born in Georgetown to a military family that took him all over the world to places like Thailand and Israel. 2:19With the traveling experience at such a young age, Clayton was still able to feel gratitude. 2:56Clayton didn't exactly have a path after graduating from college as a Creative Writing major. 3:45After his first advertising internship at an advertising firm, Clayton knew precisely what he wanted to do. 4:30Before going to the client side at Ritz Carlton, Clayton ran multiple advertising agencies, then ultimately moving to American Express. 5:10At both Ritz Carlton and American Express, there was plenty of need for a refresh in the respective brands' clarity. 5:55Before Clayton arrived, the American Express brand and logo hadn't been updated since 1975. 7:27Clayton knew that with the arrival of the internet came the need to think bigger for American Express. 7:50It takes effective change management to bring a brand to life after years of continuity. 8:47Clayton and his team have spent time speaking to AMEX teams all over the world to understand how the brand could help them. 9:38Having revamped two big brands, Clayton has found that it's best to start with understanding the problem that needs to be solved. 10:59Though the events of 2020 have accelerated things, they have not changed the fundamentals of marketing. 12:45What started as a health crisis turned into multiple crises in the economic and cultural sectors. 13:27When COVID broke out, Clayton and his team paused to examine where they could be of most assistance. 14:12American Express launched its Business Class platform in an attempt to educated businesses on what they could do. 15:37Every week, American Express tries to provide education in a different and attractive fashion. 17:16Over the last 40 years, business has become sexy and something people love to be a part of. 17:58It's incredibly important for marketers to put out organic content that adds value to the company. 19:17Useful does not have to mean uninteresting and useful content must be able to compete with everything out there. 21:06 Become a member today and listen ad-free, visit https://plus.acast.com/s/marketingtoday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.