The news: American Express wrote the playbook on using luxe experiential rewards to attract cardholders. But that strategy may be getting stale as substantial spending fails to accelerate cardholder growth.

• Amex poured $2 billion in customer member services in Q3—up 36%YoY. 
• Card member rewards spending grew 10% YoY.
• And marketing spending rose 11% YoY.

Before Amex refreshed the Platinum card, it regularly attracted 1.5 million cardholders per quarter. In each of the four quarters after it refreshed the card, however, it only added 1.3 million. 

Why this matters: To justify big spending on artist partnerships, sporting pop-ups, and dining experiences, the issuer needs to see bigger results in onboarding—and purchase volume growth, which at 9% is down on the quarter and unchanged from a year ago. 

That’s not to say nothing about the strategy is working:

• Net card fees are up 17% YoY.
• 76% of all new proprietary accounts are for fee-paying products
• And 65% of new accounts globally are owned by Gen Zers and millennials.

Recommendations for issuers: The fight to acquire and retain affluent cardholders is fierce—especially as the K-shaped economy limits  the pool of US adults who make up the majority of discretionary spend. 

While experiential rewards should remain a pillar of rewards lineups, issuers should consider other avenues to make their cards sticky to younger generations.

• Amex’s push into banking and high-yield savings accounts has proven attractive to Gen Zers and millennials: about 60% of its consumer deposit accounts were held by the cohort as of Q2.
• Payment flexibility could also attract Gen Zers: 32% called the ability to skip one payment annually without penalty  “extremely valuable,” per our 2026 Cash-Back Credit Card Emerging Features Benchmark.

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