Company: Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder, CO & Digitas
Company Description: American Express OPEN is the leading payment card issuer for small businesses in the United States and supports business owners with products and services to help them run and grow their businesses. Learn more at www.OPEN.com. American Express is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Specialty
Nomination Sub Category: Business-to-Business Marketing Campaign of the Year

Nomination Title: Small Business Gets an Official Day

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 500 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

In 2010, American Express created Small Business Saturday, a new shopping day right after Black Friday, to help small businesses get what they needed most: more customers. And it was huge.

But 2011 would be the real test. Was Small Business Saturday just a one off event or would it become an ongoing holiday shopping tradition?

To help it become a permanent fixture on the calendar, American Express brought together business owners, consumers, government officials, even big corporations to rally behind a day to drive business to small business.

They created a set of tools to let business owners own the day. They were able to do everything from print a poster to make a Facebook page for their business. American Express also created tools to help consumers find local businesses and map out where they could shop small.

In the end, the second annual Small Business Saturday was even bigger than year one, becoming a top 10 trending topic on Twitter and reaching 2.7 million “likes” on Facebook, more than double the year before. What’s more, it even became an official day. The United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution declaring November 26, 2011 to be Small Business Saturday.

Most importantly, 103 million Americans proudly shopped small, including President Obama. In just over a year, Small Business Saturday went from a day that didn’t exist to cementing its place as a permanent part of the holiday shopping calendar.

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Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 100 words):

Since 2008, Susan Sobbott has been serving and advocating for small business success as President of American Express OPEN. Under Susan’s leadership, OPEN has extended its position as the leading card issuer for small businesses nationally; launched an array of small business products, servicing and marketing initiatives; and expanded its advocacy efforts on behalf of entrepreneurs. With the launch of its Small Business Saturday (SBS) program, American Express has helped rally all of its energy in support of small business to drive people to shop small. In fact, 2011 public awareness of SBS rose to 65% from 37% in 2010 and spurred an estimated 100 million Americans to shop at independently-owned small businesses.