It’s hard to believe that American Express is celebrating its 163rd birthday today, as the iconic brand continues a spry and active presence, pushing boundaries in social media while as fresh and enduring as those half its age. Case in point: its #163candles hashtag on Twitter today.

Just last month, the blue chip brand teamed with that whippersnapper on a social commerce experience that turns Twitter hashtags into purchases. The sync and tweet with #hashtags lets users buy $25 American Express Gift Cards and products from Amazon, Sony, Urban Zen and Xbox 360.

"Based on the initial success of Amex Sync for offers, we know there is significant power in combining our assets with Twitter's platform to bring value to Cardmembers and merchants," said Leslie Berland, SVP Digital Partnerships and Development. "Now, we're leveraging our unique technology and closed-loop network to introduce a seamless solution that redefines what's possible in the world of social commerce."Continue reading...

Apple plans limited US manufacturing as it lands back in court with Samsung and baffles Eric Schmidt.

Starbucks agrees to pay more UK tax, capitulating to criticism.

Rolls-Royce is caught in bribery probe in UK.

AmEx works on social engagement that closes the loop with consumers.

AT&T is on track for record smartphone sales.

Barclays Africa is sold to Absa in $2.1 billion transaction.

Bob Marley trademark spat settled as 'relaxation drink' comes under fire.

Deutsche Bank is probed by SEC.

Dish will start selling mobile phones at its Blockbuster movie rental stores.Continue reading...

American Express announced an innovative social media integration with Twitter this week, enabling US cardmembers to turn customized Twitter hashtags into savings via sync.americanexpress.com. Promoted with the tagline “Sync. Tweet. Save.” the social marketing promotion is the most direct use of Twitter to date by a brand that creates a real utility for customers: couponless savings loaded directly to their synced cards and automatically delivered in a credit statement.

“With Twitter, we’ve really hit the trifecta. We have a great platform in Twitter,” said Ed Gilligan, Vice Chairman, American Express. “We know our cardmembers are engaged in Twitter. We’ve been working with them to think about how can we help them move from conversations to commerce. To turn a tweet into a transaction.”

Brands trying out Amex Sync include Best Buy, McDonald’s, Whole Foods Market, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Century 21, The Cheesecake Factory, Dell, FedEx Office, FTD, Gulf, H&M, Seamless.com, Sports Authority, Ticketmaster, Virgin America and Zappos. They'll be closely watching the analytics on this test, with the Amex Synch API offering also supplying reports to merchants about customer spending, online and offline.

And if they're in Austin for SXSW on March 12th, they can celebrate at a concert featuring Jay-Z.Continue reading...

American Express Cardmembers and merchants are getting exclusive access to Twitter’s new advertising solution for small businesses. The first 10,000 eligible businesses that register at http://ads.twitter.com/amex will get $100 in free Twitter ads as the self-serve automated system begins in March.

Similar to Google, advertisers will choose amount they’ll spend, the cities or regions for ads to appear, and write their own 140-character copy. According to AmEx’s press release, Twitter will charge only for ads that get a user response.

Twitter is already testing Promoted Tweets priced on a "cost-per-engagement" basis, where businesses only pay if a user interacts (retweets, replies to, clicks or favorites), but the AmEx partnership could exponentially increase the number of advertisers Twitter can work with.Continue reading...

Airbus raises prices of A320neo plane amid strong demand, as Boeing threatens to compete better in 2012 .

AirTran must reinstate whistleblower pilot.

American Express invests $125 million in China mobile payments startup.

Apple eases into corporate market with Macs, while textbook push draws interest.

BankUnited draws bids from TD Bank and others.

Beyonce and Jay-Z challenged by Blue Ivy trademark applicant.

Burberry sales surge on international demand.Continue reading...

While one third of the Occupy Wall Street movement is working on bail money, and another third on getting the mace out of its eyes, the other third is thinking about actions to further spread the message and expand the movement. One of the possibilities is an "Occupy Black Friday" campaign.

In various cities, those involved in the Occupy movement this week floated the idea of an "Occupy Black Friday" plan to keep the momentum going on the biggest shopping day of the year. While it's not clear what these plans are, the approach has a precedent.

"Buy Nothing Day 2011" is still being promoted by AdBusters, the Canadian organization credited with (at least co-) launching the Occupy Wall Street movement. Will Occupy Black Friday be a day of confrontation or one of passive boycott? And if it's the latter, will anyone care?

The very loosely organized OBF movement has thus far expressed a number of motivations for its actions. There are, of course, the standard gripes about corporations and profit and a nation of blind consumerism. But a subset of OBF is motivated by outrage at the demands placed on employees.Continue reading...

Retailers always approach the holiday shopping season with a mixture of cautious optimism and trepidation. While this year will be no different, at least one market survey suggests American retailers may be able to breathe a small sigh of relief.

That's because American consumers will spend, on average, 17 percent more money than last year. Americans will spend an average of $831 on gifts this holiday season, $121 more than last year, according to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker report.

But consumers will also be shopping smarter, taking advantage of strategies that will save them money. Pre-holiday shopping is expected to increase by 37 percent over last year. That's one reason Walmart is aggressively promoting its layaway program and pitching a "Christmas Price Guarantee."Continue reading...

American Express just launched “Friends of Japan,” its first-ever global social media program on Facebook. 

Every ‘Message of Hope’ posted on American Express Japan's Facebook page, where there's a dedicated tab for the initiative, the company will donate $1 towards earthquake relief in the nation.

Public support was generous when the disaster struck five months ago, but since then has faded from news headlines and people’s consciousness — although the aftermath, of course, is far from over.Continue reading...