American Express has selected Omnicom Group’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners to handle U.S. creative after a massively long overly drawn out pitch process. They have also hired 21st Century Brand to support global brand strategy.
Finalists in the review included incumbent Dentsu Creative and WPP’s VML. While Dentsu Creative will no longer be handling the US business they will continue to support international advertising and other creative projects.
In hiring GS&P and 21st Century Brand, American Express will separate strategy from creative—a move the company described as an evolution of its agency model “to provide dedicated support for each line of work.” But we all know this will be a communication and logistical nightmare for everyone involved. Dentsu Creative had previously managed both areas.
The company did not explain the reason for the pitch, stating only that “the review was part of a long-planned strategic evaluation of our agency model to meet our evolving business needs.”
The agencies were selected, in part, for their potential skill to bring to life American Express’ “Powerful Backing” brand platform, which was created by Dentsu Creative in 2018.
The agency changes come as American Express increases its ad spend. The company shelled out $241 million on U.S. measured media in the first half of 2025, up slightly from $235 million during the same period in 2024, according to MediaRadar. It spent $521 million in 2024 overall, up from $456 million in 2023.
The win is another feather in the cap for GS&P, which over the past year has notched wins with Zaxbys, General Mills and Brown-Forman. In a September statement, the agency stated those wins contributed to a 300% increase in net new business revenue since July 2024. This bodes well for the former Droga5 executive, Sarah Thompson, who was hired as GS&Ps CEO back in 2022 along with CCO Margaret Johnson.
The U.S. account loss will be a groin shot for Dentsu Creative, which counted American Express as a top five client in 2024, according to its 2025 Ad Age A-List entry. Another big client, T-Mobile, recently moved most of the agency’s creative responsibilities in-house. Also, Dentsu Creative lost Subway to Publicis Groupe’s Leo earlier this year. On the upside, Dentsu Creative has recently picked up work with existing Dentsu clients Dollar General and Microsoft, as well as a new assignment with the NFL and global creative duties for Adobe so daddy will still get his new yacht for Christmas.
American Express hired Dentsu as its lead agency for most of the business in 2017 and later brought all of its creative work under their umbrella back in 2020. Prior, Ogilvy was the company’s lead agency for over 50 years. Interpublic Group of Cos.’ UM continues to serve as the company’s global media agency of record.
Finalists in the review included incumbent Dentsu Creative and WPP’s VML. While it is losing the U.S. account, longtime agency partner Dentsu Creative will continue to support international advertising and other creative projects.
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