As you may remember, back in March I was invited to New York City for an immersion event to learn all about American Express’ new charge card geared toward people in their 20s and 30s called the ZYNC Card.  ZYNC has been in beta testing since December, but as of today the card has been officially released!

ZYNC is unique in that you can build the card to fit your lifestyle.  When you sign up for the card you can also sign up for “packs,” which give you additional benefits.  You choose the benefits, or packs, that will best fit your lifestyle.  With today’s release there are a whole bunch of new benefits that I had no idea were going to be included until I saw the press release.  As I’m already a ZYNC card holder, the packs I know I’ll be using include:

• The Style Pack offers 2X Membership Rewards points at department stores, enhanced return protection, a special collaboration with online sample sale site Gilt with benefits including a one time $25 account credit, quarterly access to private sales, and shipping promotions on select sales.
• The Go Pack offers 2X Membership Rewards points on airfare ticket purchases, lost $20 wallet protection, and travel discounts.
• The Restaurant Pack offers 2X Membership Rewards points at select restaurants plus special dining offers from Cold Stone Creamery®, Dunkin’ Donuts, Seasons 52, Morton’s The Steakhouse, Lettuce Entertain You and Patina Restaurant Group.
• The Give Back Pack offers 1,000 Membership Rewards(R) points for each logged hour of volunteer service, plus one Membership Rewards point for every charitable dollar donated using your American Express Card.

Most packs will cost $25 per year, but I know at least one pack, The Eco Pack, is free.  I’m really freaking excited about the collaboration the Style Pack has with Gilt.  The $25 Gilt credit offsets at least one year of owning the $25 pack, which is awesome.  There are so many different options available with this card and I’m excited to see how it all unfolds.

To kick off the launch of the card American Express will be hosting a live concert with The National on May 15, 2010.  The concert will be streamed online for free. For more information about the concert check out ZYNC’s Facebook Page.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see ZYNC creeping up all over the place.  Even this morning when I was checking out Dunkin’ Donuts Perks I unwittingly found a special section for ZYNC card holders {and I swear I had NO idea it would be there}.

When you spend $25 in a month at Dunkin’ Donuts and use your ZYNC card you’ll receive a $5 Dunkin’ Donuts Card.

I think the most important thing to remember is that ZYNC is a charge card, so it would more take the place of a debit card.  With the ZYNC Card you do not have a revolving line of credit.  You make purchases each month and then pay them off each month.  Click here to read more about Charge Cards vs. Credit Cards.

Or, click here to learn more about ZYNC from the American Express website.

I’m curious – would you ever be interested in a card like ZYNC?

I am not a control freak in everyday life but I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to traveling.  I don’t necessarily plan out every last stop, but I have the basics down.  Leading up to American Express Zync Card Immersion Event was a bit torturous for me because aside from my flight and eventually the hotel, I had no idea what we’d be doing for two days.  In fact, the people in charge didn’t give us any clue what we’d be doing until we got to the next destination.  It was a day and a half of secrets.  But oh, were they good!

Before the fun could begin, I checked into the super stylish Standard Hotel.  I’ve never stayed in such a place.  It was honestly the most comfortable hotel bed in which I’ve ever slept.  I didn’t want to get out of bed in the mornings!  Here’s a word of warning – don’t stay at the Standard with coworkers or anyone other than really, really close friends or lovers.  Here’s why:

This is my room.  The bed is right next to the shower and the only thing separating the two is a wall of glass.  There is no curtain!  Luckily there’s a door around the toilet, but still, this room has the potential to make for some awkward situations.  Aside from that I loved the hotel and I was particularly fond of the view from my window:

Our first group event was on Tuesday night.  We headed to Cooking by the Book, which ended up being awesome despite my lack of culinary talents.  {Fun Fact: Cooking by the Book is the test kitchen for uber-cookbook Joy of Cooking!}

This is my cooking group.  {I’m the one on the far left.}  We were in charge of the gnocchi portion of dinner and oh my was it ever tasty!  This experience was definitely a fun way to meet the people who, until that day, were strangers to me.  It wasn’t just the bloggers that participated in these event either.  Standing next to me is Mary, who is a VP at American Express.  Other stations had other Amex employees, as well as Ogilvy PR wonder workers.

The next morning, Wednesday, started off with a brainstorming session and learning all about American Express.  One thing I loved?  We were able to touch one of the actual famed American Express Black {Centurion} Cards!  Did you know that baby is made out of titanium?  Fancy!  {Oops.  They said nobody’s allowed to talk about the card.  Hope I didn’t give anything away by saying it’s black and made of Titanium.}

After a working lunch we headed out to do perhaps one of the neatest things ever: DJ School!  We headed to Scratch DJ Academy, which was founded by Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC, and were told this was where we were going to meet our secret “special guest.”   However, when we were warned that we weren’t allowed to ask any personal questions of said female special guest, one of my fellow bloggers astutely guessed that we would be meeting none other than Samantha Ronson.

Before that happened, however, we were taught a few things about DJ’ing.  I’m not a club-goer so I had no appreciation for this craft before taking the class.  Now though – I don’t know how they do it!  DJing is tough as you always have to be listening to the music and thinking about what to do next.  We were learning how to scratch, which is really really hard!  You have to use both hands to do two different things all while listening to the beat.  Brain overload!  As I tweeted, my new name is obviously DJ Jazzy Lisa.

Photo by Matt Rainey for American Express

After we had a few basic lessons it was time for Samantha Ronson to show us how it’s done.  It seems as though there might be a few different kinds of DJs?  They didn’t get into that but we were learning how to “scratch.”  You know – scratch the record so that it sounds really cool.  Samantha, on the other hand, told us that she doesn’t scratch so much as she mixes the songs.

I took this short video of her playing one of my favorite songs, Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus.  I’d just like to note that I can’t actually stand Miley Cyrus and absolutely do not listen to her music as a general rule, but this song is just so dang catchy.  The way Samantha spins it so that it goes right into a Jay-Z song {I think?} right at the Jay-Z party is all kinds of cool.

Finally, the event ended at very awesome bar Macao where we went to “mixology school.” Mixology school is in quotes because I didn’t actually try my hand at making anything. I just drank. I definitely have a new appreciation for well-made drinks. When they’re made properly you can’t taste the alcohol. I guess that’s both a good and bad thing.

All in all it was a really awesome event and I’m so glad I was able to go.  Thanks for indulging me this post, which is in no way related to bargain shopping.  Tomorrow I’ll tell you all the things I learned about the Zync Card and American Express in general.

When I was contacted by American Express about the new Zync Charge Card I was asked to make a multiple-month commitment to provide them with feedback on what 20- and 30-somethings would think were positive qualities in a charge card.  The first part of this commitment was attending a two-day immersion event in New York City where we would get to learn about the Zync Card, provide feedback, and experience a few different events unique to New York City.  One of the biggest perks of the Zync Card is that you can create the card to be whatever you want it to be to best suit your lifestyle, and thus parlay being an amex holder into trying out different experiences.  If you follow me on Twitter then you already know what awesome events we enjoyed; if you don’t follow me on Twitter or missed those posts then I’ll fill you in on all the fun tomorrow.

I thought I’d spend the next couple of days telling you a little about the event as well as telling you what I learned about American Express.  Believe me – I learned one key thing that essentially changed the way I think about American Express.  {In a good way.}

To start off, I thought I’d share with you what other sites are involved in this initiative.  As I told you all before, I had no idea what other sites/ people would be involved before I arrived.  When I received the list my jaw dropped – there were some heavy hitters!  Sites much bigger than Fantabulously Frugal.  I have no idea how I was chosen to be included among such great sites but I’m certainly not complaining!  The few days in NYC were a great learning experience and it was fun to learn about the origins of other sites and see that whether the blog is large or small, we all have similar concerns and anxieties.

The other websites involved:

A New Mode – Fashion, beauty, and lifestyle blog aimed at women

Artlog – NYC-based blog focused on art, theatre, dance, and culture

CoolHunting – A personal catalog and reference tool featuring really cool objects

Eco-Chick – Eco-friendly fashion and lifestyles

Ecorazzi – The latest in green gossip

Fancy Fast Food – They take fast food and make it look good

Flavorpill – Arts, entertainment, and lifestyle events happening in NYC, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, and London

Go Green Travel Green – Eco-friendly travel tips, reviews, and news

Green LA Girl – Eco-friendly and sustainable living in Los Angeles

Refinery 29 – The newest and best in style, shopping, and emerging trends

Thrillist – The best in food, drinks, services, gadgets, etc. in many cities

Urban Daddy – Covers the latest in restaurants, nightlife, leisure, fashion, and travel

Wise Bread – Live large on a small budget

Tomorrow: Fun and new experiences in my favorite city!