American Express created a revolutionary partnership with Twitter and a new way to save money just by sending a tweet. Twitter Sync empowered Amex Cardmembers to use custom hashtags to load an offer directly to their card. No coupons, no promo codes, just a new way to save.

A big idea like this deserved a big launch.

We needed to leverage a heat moment that tied to our objectives and audience. An event where influencers congregate and the world takes notice. The place where brands like Twitter and FourSquare broke on to the scene - SXSW Interactive.

We recognized that music is a key part of the SXSW festival, and many of the interactive crowd stay for the second week of the event to see some of music’s biggest acts along with the next big thing.

So how could we give interactive attendees both a product launch with talk value, and have that product unlock access to another passion point they are engaged with?

The solution? Put Sync center stage at a first-of-its-kind Twitter-powered concert: The Amex Sync Show starring Jay Z, live from SXSW. Sync with Twitter became the talk of the town and social feeds around the world.

Both the email communications and Activation Pack were uniquely targeted approaches to directly communicate and activate small businesses.

Content ranged from announcing the day, encouraging the use of the tools found on ShopSmall.com, reminding consumers to Shop Small on November 24, and thanking them for their participation post-SBS.

The Activation Pack was a no-brainer to gain the interest of Chambers and offer them a turnkey way to rally their local small businesses. Filled with SBS and Shop Small collateral that could be easily handed out to excite consumers, the Pack was a huge success.

In 2012, nearly 28,000 visitors were driven to ShopSmall.com by digital direct channels, including emails and internal banners. These visitors had a higher completion rate among tools found on the site:

• SBO Toolkit - 10.7% completion rate (2.6% for those not driven by direct channels (i.e., 4x as likely)

And when organizing the Ambassador Program, 75% of the total Chamber submissions were attributed to emails sent out inviting them to participate. Because of the Activation Pack, participants reported increased customer traffic, higher frequency of AmEx swipes, and a desire to participate in similar programs in the future.