American Express’ blog took the gold — and here’s why

Vice chairman’s conversational tone earns a 2009 Ragan Recognition Award – and employees’ kudos, as well

When creating an internal blog, American Express was looking for a fresh voice to talk to employees about the company.

The company found it in its vice chairman, Ed Gilligan.

By mixing jargon-free business details and personal anecdotes, American Express’s ‘Ed’s B:log’ won the 2009 Ragan Recognition Award for Best Internal Blog. Gilligan posts blogs every four to six weeks, sharing his perspective about the company in a light, conversational tone.

In 2007, American Express was split into two customer-focused groups: global business-to-business and the global consumer group. Gilligan is in charge of the B2B group, and the blog is geared primarily to that audience. He introduced the blog in this no-nonsense way:

“Let me start off by saying a little more about what my blog is, and what it is not. Apparently, there are more than 107 million blogs in the world—and they’re updated all the time. Now, I don’t know what these people do for a living and I certainly hope they don’t work for us. I know that I won’t be updating my blog that often, nor should I. What I want to do is occasionally share with you my thoughts about our B2B world.”