Here at High Road, we all know that American Express is a brand that’s synonymous with service. Simply put, the company is committed to delivering the world’s best service experience by offering award-winning customer service and travel perks to all its Cardmembers. And what better way to demonstrate this than by creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience for some of Canada’s top bloggers? Of course it was Amex that did just that recently, giving this bloggers a firsthand look at some of the great perks and possibilities Amex provides daily to its Cardmembers – including incredible travel options, Front Of The Line access to amazing shows and concierge services that rival those of top hotels.

In fact, late last month American Express Canada hosted two major events to promote their live and unique concert series, Coldplay: Unstaged, which took place on Oct. 26. (It was the sixth such performance in the series – which has previously featured such big-name bands as Arcade Fire, Alicia Keys and Sugarland – but the first to take place outside of North America.)

For starters, Amex hosted an interactive dinner event at the Thompson Hotel in downtown Toronto on Oct. 26, where 24 local bloggers were invited to an exclusive dining experience, complete with guest speaker and concierge to the stars, Michael Fazio. As the bloggers dined with some of Amex’s top execs, they were truly treated to – and learned – the importance of top-notch service, which can be woven into every aspect of our everyday lives – a quality American Express takes pride in consistently providing for their Cardmembers. From there, the bloggers were treated to a screening of the Coldplay: Unstaged taking place LIVE in Spain that night, once again proving Amex Canada will go above and beyond to make Cardmembers feel special through unique experiences and stellar customer service.

But on top of the interactive dinner event, Amex had also sent five of Canada’s top bloggers – Lisa of Hip Urban Girl, Karen of She Does the City, Mike of Mike’s Bloggity Blog, and Tyrone and Bryan of 1 Love TO to actually attend the Unstaged: Coldplay concert in Madrid, Spain, where they could capture and share their experiences. Since Amex’s approach to service is to leave no stone unturned, the bloggers were also invited to use American Express Concierge and Personalized Travel Service to help plan their trip.

That meant the bloggers were treated to American Express’s Platinum Service from the beginning to the end, starting with the Personalized Travel Service, which booked all flights, hotel and airport transfers, to the Concierge Services, providing recommendations and creating itineraries that hit Madrid’s best restaurants, nightlife, shopping, and daytime activities. (Best part of this service, each blogger was able to work one-on-one with an Amex concierge to tailor an itinerary suited to each individual’s preferences.)

And all of this special service came before the main event: When the High Road-hosted bloggers set off on their whirlwind 48-hour trip to Madrid, where American Express Unstaged presented – in partnership with VEVO and YouTube – seven-time, Grammy award-winning rock band and international sensation Coldplay from one of Spain’s most famous arenas, Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas. The bloggers had front row seats to watch Coldplay perform live, which, in itself, was an unforgettable experience.

Our six-person crew spent two days exploring the beautiful city of Madrid, indulging in delicious tapas, traditional paella, and celebrating our luck over pitchers of sangria and Spanish Cava. Plenty of laughs were had, new friendships were formed, and all six of us were in awe at the experience of watching Coldplay rocking out in such a historic venue along with 25,000 other fans in Madrid and thousands of other fans tuning in via live-stream across the globe. Thankfully the concert is being re-broadcast on youtube.com/coldplayvevo so we can live vicariously through our experience over and over again.

Challenged to prove they were Toronto’s best dancer, media joined some of Toronto’s top bloggers to battle it out in a Dance Central 2 dance-off at Xbox 360 Central on 330 Queen Street West. The place was bumpin’ as the dancers took on all-new routines set to an unstoppable soundtrack featuring hot tracks from Usher, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Daft Punk, and Montell Jordan.

Dance Central is all about learning real routines with full body choreography, and Dance Central 2′s completely redesigned Break it Down mode lets players get into the groove better than ever before, with practice sessions to focus on select moves and the power of Kinect’s voice commands to move your rehearsal along more quickly or slow it down. It even lets you record yourself dancing a move and compare your video with an onscreen dancer!

The coolest feature about the addictive new edition of Kinect’s #1 selling dance game? Friends can team up or choose a Dance Crew to go head-to-head in a fierce Dance Battle. Things get really interesting when the all new Free-4-All minigame appears, allowing players to quickly perform moves worth tons of points and jump ahead in score. Players can drop in or out at any point during a song, so the party never has to stop.

We must say we were quite impressed with everyone’s rhythm! Congrats to CityLine guest expert, Yummy Mummy’s Sarah Gunn (@lovelaughshop) who danced away with the highest score and Casie Stewart (@casiestewart) who tallied up a close second!

To see all the dance moves, check out this video.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to get everyone thinking about the most frequently diagnosed cancer in Canadian women. As it is a cause that is near and dear to TELUS, during the month, they’re donating $25 to The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation for every pink BlackBerry Curve 9360 sold.

But how to get word out of this great charitable initiative? Cue High Road to help design and execute the “TELUS Pink Network Weekend Getaway” campaign, a creative blogger challenge that rallied some of the most influential females online to get Canadians to “think pink.”

Over a one week period, High Road and TELUS challenged 20 top female bloggers to write posts detailing who their “pink networks” are (the females in their lives that matter most) and take to Twitter, sharing their stories with their communities. The person with the most retweets received an all-expenses paid trip for her and three members of her pink network to a relaxing weekend of wine-tasting at the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort & Spa, located in the heart of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.

The blogger challenge was a great success. The TELUS Go Pink initiative trended multiple times on Twitter throughout the week, and the bloggers shared some very touching stories of how breast cancer had impacted their lives, all the while helping spread word of TELUS’ commitment to help in the fight against breast cancer.

All in all, it was a great campaign, and one that High Road was tremendously proud to support.