Merrick Watts becomes celebrity intern for American Express campaign
American Express has recruited Australian comedian and broadcaster Merrick Watts to star in its latest campaign as the Amex Business celebrity intern, taking on roles as a baker, teacher and plumber.
In one of the 30 second spots created by Marcel Sydney, Watts begins work at a bakery for the day as he struggles to make dough, mix flour and decipher which pie is beef.
Using the tagline ‘Give your business the help it actually needs’, Watts is also employed as a plumber for the day.
During his escapades as a plumber, Watts causes chaos by failing to turn off the water off and breaking the shower head.
Scott Huebscher, ECD at Marcel Sydney, said the agency was given a great brief to work with.
“It was a great brief to be asked to come up with something completely different for American Express. It’s been fun to work with them and Merrick to create light-hearted and humorous comms amidst a category that is typically serious.”
In another spot promoting the American Express Business Explorer credit card, tWatts becomes a teacher at a day care centre.
The ads – not currently planned for a broadcast TV schedule – will appear across American Express’ social channels.
Peter Likoudis, vice president of marketing for American Express global commercial payment, said: “Small business owners are among the hardest working people on the planet. The American Express Business Explorer Credit Card aims to make things easier for them and was designed specifically for business owners from the beginning.
“We’ve taken a new direction with our Celebrity Intern campaign, using humour to show small business owners that we understand that running a small business isn’t easy but that we are there
to back them along the way.”
Credits:
- Client: American Express
- Vice President, Marketing JAPA: Peter Likoudis
- Head of SME Prospect Marketing: Heidi Abbott
- Brand & Media Manager: Will Hasko
- Agency: Marcel Sydney
- Media: Mindshare
- Production Company: Guilty Content
- Director: Tony Rogers
- DOP: Peter Eastgate
- Executive Producer: Jason Byrne
- Producer: Victoria Schaw
- Post Production: The Butchery
- Editor: Tim Parrington
- Sound: Rumble
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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I gotta say honestly this was a heap of fun to do. Long days but never stressful. Everyone to a person- agency, client, crew, small business owners even the on set caterers were amazing to work with. Good people make good things.
Cheers Amex for proudly displaying my many inadequacies!
Mez.
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