My Offers taps what AmEx calls the "spend graph" to give cardmembers access to deals and discounts at nearby merchants. And it knows your mom couldn't care less about getting 50% off tickets to a three-day electro-fest.

"I wish someone had told me how important my sixth-grade science class was going to be in leadership," says Scott Roen, VP of Digital Marketing and Innovation at American Express--after all, it's the first place you learn to test a hypothesis.

Want $20 back from Whole Foods when you use your AmEx card? Tweet #AmExWholeFoods. Here's what's behind the new deals for the sharing generation.

It's networks versus phone-makers. All that's at stake is dominance over an emerging business and untold riches to the winner.

Marketing schizophrenia can be defined in many ways, but one of the most compelling barometers I've found is an advertiser's consistent creation of short term "campaigns". (And of course, use of the term brand campaign.)