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How Gen Z Made Amex Cool Again
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American Express built its brand on
elite travel benefits and luxury perks,
but now it's shifting to win over a
younger audience. Gen Z. That's the
powerful backing of American
Express. In the first quarter of 2025,
millennials and Gen Z drove over 60% of
new global AMX signups, fueled in part
by influencer-driven buzz. Hear me out.
Get the platinum AMX card. That's metal
and it goes ding ding ding. At the heart
of this growth is AMX's loyalty and
rewards program. So, especially as
everything costs more, if you can get
champagne travel on a beer budget,
that's a lot of what Jenzers and
millennials are trying to achieve.
Here's a closer look at how this
170-year-old credit card giant is
evolving to stay relevant with the next
generation of card holders.
For decades, American Express was the
go-to card for luxury travelers and the
business elite. Built on prestige and
premium perks. My name is Tina Fay. Oh,
go right in. Really? That worked? Are
you aware that you can access over 120
lounges simply by showing the platinum
card? But that image and its older
customer base is shifting. In 2023
alone, Gen Z and millennials accounted
for 75% of AMX's new platinum and gold
card accounts. Gen Zers are actually
bigger risktakers with their money. They
came of age though at a different time.
It was actually around the pandemic time
when money was actually flowing freely.
People got all that stimulus money. A
lot of Jenzers introduction to money, at
least in adulthood, was more gambling on
meme stocks and crypto. We've actually
seen Genzers proving a lot more
risk-takers with their money and that
includes taking on debt and also taking
on riskier investments. A study from
TransUnion found 84% of Gen Z consumers
aged 22 to 24 had at least one credit
card by the end of 2023. That's a 23%
higher rate than millennials at the same
age a decade ago. Millennials were
famously debt averse, very slow to get
credit cards, perhaps because they have
hefty student loan burdens, and many
grew up around the time of the financial
crisis. Gen Z spends differently, too.
Unlike older generations who prioritized
travel upgrades and airport lounges, Gen
Z is putting more of their money towards
experiences, dining, and lifestyle. And
AMX is leaning in. They'll get you a
free Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
membership. They have their own special
lounges at certain music festivals and
sporting events. You know, you get a
little bit off your media subscriptions.
You get a little bit off Uber. You get a
little bit off these food delivery apps,
but it is sticky and it keeps people
coming back for more. AMX's business
model makes it uniquely positioned to
build out this rewards
ecosystem. Unlike many of its
competitors that just run the payment
networks, AMX operates in a closed loop
system. That means it handles everything
inhouse, functioning as the issuer, the
acquirer, and the network. AMX has a
unique business model in that they're
both a lender and a payment processor.
Visa and Mastercard dominate the network
side of things, but they're not lenders.
They're not extending credit. MX is
playing both sides of that. That full
picture view from both shoppers and
merchants gives AMX an advantage. It
knows where customers are spending and
can tailor company rewards to keep them
coming back. There's something about
getting 4x points when paying for dinner
with this card that just hits different.
Gen Z and millennials use their MX cards
for dining nearly twice as much as other
generations. According to the company,
AMX saw an opportunity and moved fast.
In 2019, the company acquired Resi, a
restaurant reservation platform that
gives card holders early access to in-
demand tables. And in 2024, it expanded
its dining ecosystem by acquiring the
high-end restaurant booking service talk
as well as Rome, a mobile payments app.
When you're with AMX Gold, you can stack
four times points on restaurants around
the world. AMX has really leaned into
dining as one of their key experiences.
They have elevated dining rewards on a
bunch of their credit cards. Um, but
that also relates to the experience
aspect where they can help you book a
table at a fancy restaurant. They can
sometimes offer chef tutorials and meet
and greets. And I'm right here in New
York City for the American Express
Platinum Coast dining experience. AMX
also taps into brand partnerships to
appeal to a younger audience. Y'all
already know by now that my first job
every single year at Coachella is always
the AMX experience. Influencer marketing
is a big deal. They do these activations
at film festivals and concerts and music
festivals and and things like that. It
is a way to reach young people. These
rewards are designed to keep younger
card holders spending. This boosts
transaction volume and in turn drives up
revenue. Everybody wants a freebie,
right? So, especially as everything
costs more. If you can get champagne
travel on a beer budget, that's a lot of
what Gen Zers and millennials are trying
to achieve, it really keeps people
loyal, keeps them spending. That loyalty
has been key to AMX's growth. Even with
hefty annual fees, nearly $700 for
premium cards like the Platinum, younger
card holders are still signing up. The
annual fee thing is interesting because
that shows how sticky their audience is
that, you know, every so often, every
few years, they introduce new features
on a card and they raise the annual fee
and the renewal percentage is apparently
very, very high. That people are loyal
to these cards. They like the perks
they're getting. But competition for
these young and affluent spenders is
fierce. The rewards race is on and
competitors like Chase, Capital 1, and
Mastercard are catching up. It's a
copycat industry and we're seeing a lot
of that. Chase and Capital One are
following the MX playbook when it comes
to luxury travel cards, getting you into
the airport lounge, building out their
own proprietary lounges. That was
something that AMX really pioneered.
Take the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. It
offers premium travel perks, dining
rewards, and access to lounges. Once a
hallmark of AMX's platinum card, they
have a lot more challengers now than
they used to. And in fact, Capital One's
a real upand cominging competitor.
They're in the process of acquiring
Discover. That's going to make them an
even more worthy competitor. They've
been building out airport lounges.
They've been introducing premium luxury
travel cards. Chase had a big shot
across the bow in 2016 when they
introduced that Sapphire Reserve card.
And that's going toe-to-toe with MX
Platinum. And American Express is
watching for more than just competition.
It's also bracing for broader economic
headwinds, including the potential
impact of rising tariffs, market
volatility, and investor jitters over
tariffs already contributed to a dip in
the company's stock price. People are
already worried about inflation and the
high cost of living. If tariffs make
that more expensive, there's a fear that
we could tip into recession and that
this could kind of be the straw that
broke the camel's back. A recession is
still bad news for any sort of payments
provider. If people are spending less,
that pie is shrinking. In its April 2025
earnings call, MX CEO Steve Squaryy
acknowledged those risks, but pointed to
the company's affluent customer base as
a buffer. If you look at our card base
now versus our card base in 2019, it is
more premium uh than it was at that
point with higher FICO. The other thing
that I'll say uh our millennial uh and
Gen Z's are performing significantly
better both from a FICO perspective and
from a delinquency perspective than the
industry. That high-spending, low-risk
consumer base, may help shield the
company from some economic turbulence.
The companies that would likely fare the
worst in a recession are those that
cater to more of a subprime audience.
Those who have customers with lower
incomes, lower credit scores. The MX
audience is very resilient.
Delinquencies across the industry have
gone up. They haven't gone up as much at
MX. And that's also reflective of the
customer base and and could bode at
least better if there is a downturn.
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