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, with millions of people shopping small. The goal for 2011 was clear: Make Small Business Saturday more than just a one-off and cement its place as an official shopping day during the holiday season.

For Small Business Saturday to become an annual event, American Express couldn’t do it single-handedly. So they brought together business owners, consumers and public officials to rally behind an annual shopping day to drive business to small business.

Major social media placements, like Facebook target blocks and Twitter promoted trends, were bought leading up to the day to spark mass awareness. Once consumers began to comment on the movement, Facebook-sponsored stories to friend’s networks helped to broadcast the message.

AMEX also partnered with celebrity influencers who tweeted to followers on behalf of the movement. Celebrity tweets were incorporated into RM banner executions to capture audiences and allow them to tweet replies directly through the banner.To engage small business owners, AMEX partnered with Facebook to provide participating business owners with tools to promote their business and spread the word about the day online and off, and with free geo-targeted Facebook advertising to help them expand their customer reach via social media. AMEX then literally put small businesses on the map by creating a permanent directory on Facebook, empowering consumers to 'like' local businesses individually. Consumers who registered their AMEX card on Facebook received $25 credit to spend at a small business on Small Business Saturday.

In 2011, public awareness of Small Business Saturday rose to 65%, compared to 37% in 2010. Media outreach resulted in 9,914 placements reaching more than 1.7bn total audience (compared to 2,625 placements reaching more than 511m total audience in 2010). The Facebook page grew to over 2.7m 'likes' – more than double than 2010. Over 75 big businesses offered incentives to shop small, like giving away 40,000 $25 Shop Small gift cards to be used at a small business. Elected officials in all 50 states championed Small Business Saturday – including President Obama, who took his daughters to an independent bookstore. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating November 26, 2011, as Small Business Saturday. Increased awareness of the day spurred about 103m Americans to shop small, and on the day, American Express saw a 23% increase in card member transactions at small business merchants.