Small Business Saturday
American Express2010
Small Business Saturday is a 2010 business action and campaign (a new shopping day) for American Express, created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Digitas.
Why it works
A brand that added a day to the calendar. In 2010 American Express created Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday, to steer holiday spending towards independent local shops; at the first one, on 27 November, cardholders who spent $25 at a small business got a $25 statement credit. For 2011, with Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Digitas, the aim was to make it permanent: shopkeepers were handed badges, posters and do-it-yourself digital tools — a YouTube video maker, a Facebook page builder, Foursquare 'Shop Small' deals — to promote themselves. That year 103 million Americans shopped small, the US Senate declared it an official day, and the Small Business Administration has co-sponsored it ever since. The 2011 campaign won both the Promo & Activation and the Direct Grands Prix at Cannes 2012. It is studied as a payments company inventing a holiday that serves its own merchants — a promotion that hardened into an annual civic fixture.
Techniques
- Purpose and cause Invents a shopping day after Black Friday to steer holiday spending towards independent local shops.
- Participation Hands shopkeepers badges, posters and do-it-yourself digital tools to promote themselves, so merchants carry the campaign.
Sources · 4
- Local Retailers Hope for Big Returns on Small Business Saturday
- Small Business Gets an Official Day (Yellow Pencil; 103 million shoppers, Senate recognition)
- Cannes Diary: AmEx, CP+B Win Kudos (Promo & Activation and Direct Grands Prix)
- Small Business Saturday (founded by American Express in 2010; SBA co-sponsor since 2011)
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