American Express wins first MIPTV Brand of The Year Award

PARIS, FRANCE: The first MIPTV Brand of the Year Award will be presented to American Express on Tuesday 5 April, in Cannes. The MIPTV Brand of the Year Award recognises a global brand for outstanding contribution to the development and production of branded entertainment programming.

As part of the MIPTV 2011 Branded Entertainment Summit, the global financial services company American Express has been selected to receive recognition for its commitment and innovation in the field of branded entertainment. Ranked as the 24th most valuable brand of the year 2010 by Interbrand, American Express has been highly innovative in creating original branded entertainment that digitally connect its card members to a variety of unique events and experiences. Examples of American Express' innovative content programming include:

Unstaged: An Original Series from American Express: In partnership with YouTube and Vevo, Unstaged creates a one-of-a-kind concert experience with some of the music industry's most breakthrough artists, while tapping some of today's most influential filmmakers to direct live-streams that connect the artists to audiences across the world. 2010 performances tracked more than 25 million total streams for all three artists' performances combined.
My Movie Pitch: At the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, American Express and Tribeca Enterprises announced the formation of Tribeca Film, a comprehensive distribution and marketing platform for independent film. To celebrate, American Express invited film fans to submit movie ideas to My Movie Pitch with one being selected to premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. The winning idea, Mr. Stache is directed by Jac Schaeffer, stars Amy Smart and Rich Sommer and will premier on April 23.
American Express Skybox Report: American Express is connecting its card members to the best in fashion with the Amex Skybox Report, featuring insights from top stylists and designers, intimate shopping experiences and much more.
Next Contenders: As part of the long partnership with the US Tennis Association and the US Open Championship, American Express brought card members behind-the-scenes with some of their favourite up-and-coming tennis stars.
Members Project from American Express: American Express created an innovative and highly engaging partnership with FOX's hit TV show, GLEE, that featured the show's characters in a variety of short comedy films, online games and social media channels. Each experience supported Members Project's key messages while incorporating GLEE's well-known comedic and witty perspective.
American Express has also created innovative content supporting branded marketing campaigns featuring Conan O'Brien, Ellen DeGeneres, M. Night Shyamalan and Jerry Seinfield.

The first MIPTV Brand of the Year Award will be presented to Marie Devlin, senior VP Global Advertising, Media and Sponsorships, American Express, during the Branded Entertainment keynote on Tuesday 5 April at 5.15pm, in the Palais des Festival's Esterel auditorium.

The award to American Express is indicative of the growing number of consumer brands getting more involved in entertainment content. Other brands represented at MIPTV 2011 include: IBM, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Expedia, Ikea Deutschland, and Shangri-La Hotels. Each of these brands will be taking part in the Ogilvy Branded Entertainment Lab during MIPTV.

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