American Express: Small Business Saturday

Credits & Description:

Category: Titanium and Integrated
Advertiser: AMERICAN EXPRESS
Product/Service: AMERICAN EXPRESS
Agency: CRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY
Agency: DIGITAS
Date of First Appearance: Nov 15 2010
Entry URL: http://www.facebook.com/smallbusinesssaturday
Worldwide Creative Officer: Rob Reilly (CP+B)
Worldwide Creative Officer: Mark Beeching (Digitas)
Chief Creative Officer: Jeff Benjamin (CP+B)
Chief Creative Officer: Lincoln Bjorkman (Digitas)
Chief Creative Officer: Matt D’Ercole (Digitas)
Group Creative Director: Mark Taylor (CP+B)
Group Creative Director: Atit Shah (Digitas)
Creative Director: Tom Miller (CP+B)
Creative Director: DJ Pierce (CP+B)
Creative Director: Allen Richardson (CP+B)
Technical Creative Director: Brian Skahan (CP+B)
Associate Creative Director: Dan Ligon (CP+B)
Associate Creative Director: Jesse Suchmann (Digitas)
Copywriter: Kent Carmichael (CP+B)
Copywriter: Jens McNaughton (CP+B)
Copywriter: Mark Anderson (CP+B)
Copywriter: Justin Ebert (CP+B)
Copywriter: Kimberly Samskin-Barger (Digitas)
Copywriter: Rey Martinez (Digitas)
Copywriter: Ronnie Lee (Digitas)
Art Director: Dawn Yemma (CP+B)
Art Director: Mike Blanch (CP+B)
Art Director: Randy Rogers (CP+B)
Art Director: Kim Ann Baskinger (Digitas)
Art Director: Allyson Paisley (Digitas)
Print Producer: Melissa Harris (CP+B)
Senior Integrated Producer: Aymi Beltramo (Aymi Beltramo)
SVP, Marketing: Mark Kiernan (Digitas)
SVP, Marketing: Edward Christopher (CP+B)
Associate Director, Marketing: Alex Jacobs (Digitas)
VP, Marketing: Cynthia Vredenburgh (Digitas)
VP, Marketing: Dan Buckley (CP+B)
SVP, Media: John Bitterman (Digitas)
SVP, Media: John Leeman (Mindshare)
SVP, Media: Tobias Wolf (Mindshare)
VP, Director, Media: Lee Baler (Digitas)
Associate Director, Media: Wade Rifkin (Digitas)
Associate Director, Media: David Szahun (Mindshare)
VP, Project Management: Tammy Lee (Digitas)
VP, Group Director, Technology: Andrew Steiger (Digitas)
Technology: Zaid Al Rashid (Digitas)
Technology: Jessica Jacobs (Digitas)
Technology: Melissa Tardiff (Digitas)
Technology: Max Clark (Virtue)
Technology: Jon Lee (Virtue)
Principle: Shaunn D’Alessandro (AIFOS)
Mark Schroeder, SVP / Director, Corporate Practice: Mark Schroeder (M Booth & Associates)
SVP: Matt Hantz (M Booth & Associates)
Media placement: TV Spot- 1 Spot - ABC, NBC, CBS - 15 November 2010
Media placement: Print - Newspapers & Magazines - 18 November 2010
Media placement: Social Media - www.facebook.com/smallbusinesssaturday - 17 November 2010
Media placement: Microsite - http://www.smallbusinesssaturday.com - 17 November 2010

Describe the campaign/entry
When it comes to the holiday shopping season, there’s a day for the big boys: Black Friday. And a day for internet merchants: Cyber Monday. But what about the small independently owned businesses? You know, the ones that were supposed to be saving the U.S. economy. Shouldn’t there be a day for them too? American Express OPEN thought so and they created a day just for the little guy: Small Business Saturday.
Small Business Saturday was set to launch on November 27, 2010, smack in the middle of the biggest shopping weekend of the year. And American Express OPEN had just three weeks to create, promote and establish a day no one had ever heard of.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched across each channel in the order of implementation
The Small Business Saturday Facebook page was the hub of the movement, where small business owners could find tools to promote the day and consumers could declare their support. Posts about the benefits of supporting small local businesses got thousands of likes and helped grow the community leading up to the big day.

Next, a TV spot hit the air with a rallying cry of "Shop small. It’s going to be huge." The spot was also adapted for shoppers to see online, in elevators, at sporting events and even in taxi cabs.

Full-page ads ran in newspapers across the country, side-by-side with ads from all the big box retailers.

Radio spots with people declaring their love for small businesses ran in the days leading up to Thanksgiving weekend.

People even helped launch the idea for us online, tweeting about SBS, including AmEx endorser and avid shopper Ellen DeGeneres.

Give some idea of how successful this campaign/entry was with both client and consumer
By its third week, Small Business Saturday was the fastest growing page on Facebook, and over 1.2 million people had joined the community.

41 Mayors and Governors across the country officially declared November 27 "Small Business Saturday."

As word spread about SBS, the press picked up on the story. Over 2,500 articles appeared everywhere from the local nightly news to the Wall Street Journal.

Most importantly, all that awareness turned into action. In a year when holiday sales increased less than 4%, that weekend saw overall sales up 9%. And small retailers saw sales to customers using their American Express Cards jump 28%.

In the end, OPEN had created a brand new day in the holiday shopping season, and the heart of the American shopper.