There's nothing more precious than a company's reputation. Recognizing this, American Express worked with Tribe to create a multipart training DVD dramatizing key ethical dilemmas. The challenge was to make engaging, well told stories that resonated with employees and helped them understand the company's philosophy, as well as applicable government laws. The film played to a global audience of thousands, and was translated into eight languages.

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Video Transcript: Ask IMS

Action:
Taxi pulls up, man gets out and walks into American Express Tower. He catches up with two other employees who are walking and having a heated discussion. As he says “What’s going on?” it cuts to the three of them having a meeting in the conference room with a woman in Singapore.

Employee from Singapore:
I didn’t want to offend anyone, it just didn’t seem right to me. Take a look at this. Okay here he comes now.

Action:
Security footage/reenactment footage of a man in one of their banks.

Employee (Cont’d):
Here’s an older man, very polite. He said he just wanted to buy a $500 gift card for each of his four grandchildren. They had a shopping trip coming up. I thought it was sweet, until a few days later he came in with another $2000 and the same story.

Supervisor 1:
He’s got a lot of grandkids.

Employee:
Yeah, that’s when I thought I should report it to my supervisor.

Supervisor 2:
You did the right thing. All employees, especially anyone handling cash transactions needs to be very aware of the possibility of money laundering and how to spot it.

Supervisor 3:
But most customer requests are fine. I mean, what if you question something that’s totally legit

Employee:
That’s what I was afraid of, too. He’s a customer, I didn’t want to get him angry.

Supervisor 2:
Don’t accuse the customer of doing anything wrong, but you should ask the customer whatever questions you have in order to verify their identity or understand why they want to make the transaction. And always go to your supervisor if things don’t feel right. Customer service is important, but we also want to uphold our reputation and the law.

Supervisor 1:
It’s not just the customer who may be liable. There can be criminal penalties for people and the companies don’t take the necessary precautions to prevent money laundering.

Supervisor 2:
Right. There’s a lot at stake here, so knowing what to look for and using good judgment is crucial.

Supervisor 3:
Is he a money launderer?

Supervisor 1:
Or just a guy who loves his grandkids?

Supervisor 3:
Right.

Fade out.

End.