The best ways to reach people my age would be through new media platforms, especially Facebook. I think it will be extremely tough to reach people my age going at them as a credit card company. Many of us see credit cards as evil, especially those of us who have racked up credit card debt and/or have tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to pay off.

I don’t see celebrity endorsements as being effective for something like this. In most people’s eyes, celebrities are already rich, so having a credit card that needs to be paid off every month like an Amex card does won’t register with regular people if a celebrity is endorsing its benefits.

I think the best way to effectively market these cards and the various rewards programs is by creating a Facebook fan page and encouraging users to leave testimonials on the page. It’s hard to trust the legitimacy of testimonials on a company-owned website like Amex.com, but seeing real people connecting with each other through Facebook and leaving positive feedback is a powerful tool. I have made purchases because of reading reviews or finding products on Facebook. Encourage people to leave feedback about the rewards they have obtained through using their card. Or about how the payment process. Anything card-related to get people reading and interested.

It might be worth adding some kind of small reward to cardholders who provide feedback. Not as a paid endorsement, but something after the fact as a thank you.