American Express has built a monument to the benefits of credit, and the value of charity.

With help from Toronto-based Canstruction, the credit card company has built a replica of the Eiffel Tower out of canned food at Yonge and Eglinton Square in a dual pronged effort to promote its new ‘gold’ rewards card and the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Developed by Toronto-based Brees PR, the non-perishable structure is a physical demonstration of how customers’ everyday spending can get them travel rewards faster – like earning points from purchases at a pharmacy or grocery store.

‘The installation helps to illustrate the power of the new product,’ says David Barnes, VP, marketing and communications, American Express Canada. ‘We feel this is something we want to put a lot of attention behind because the card is very different and unique.’

Amex also set up a second structure, a canned Taj Mahal, especially for Citytv’s Breakfast Television. All the cans from both installations were donated to the Daily Bread Food bank for a total cash and cans donation of $15,000.

The new gold card, which launched today, is also being supported with a campaign, including print, OOH, and TV executions – an extension of its 18-month-old ‘Realize Your Potential’ campaign – which has recently gone back to market, developed by Ogilvy in London with Mindshare handling media.

‘The marketing and advertising campaign is built around this being the card that says ‘yes’ to the way you want to travel,’ says Barnes. ‘It really reduces the frustrations that sometimes exist with rewards cards about having the points, but finding obstacles when you come to cash them in.’