Recognizing that the recession was taking a toll on small businesses and the communities they serve, American Express OPEN wanted a way to amplify its support for small business owners. With the holiday shopping season approaching — a time that can make or break a business — OPEN needed something big to stand out against the mega-stores and mega-sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The objective behind Small Business Saturday was to inspire and encourage consumer support of independently owned businesses.

Through an overnight push, OPEN empowered Cardmembers, consumers, and business owners to spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Social networking tools gave consumers simple ways to rally friends, gush about their favourite business and take advantage of special "Shop Small" credits. At the same time, small business owners received access to sophisticated digital marketing tools, including free geo-targeted Facebook advertising.

These tactics lit the fuse, sparking a national response that was bigger than we could have ever anticipated.

41 officials from 27 states publically declared November 27th a national holiday. In its third week, Small Business Saturday was the fastest-growing page on Facebook with over 1.2 million "likes." Over 30,000 Tweets were sent using the hashtags @SmallBusinessSaturday and @SmallBizSaturday.

Indie film fans, our core target, consumes, creates and shares more online video than the general Internet audience. So, we decided to utilize video as advertising and an engagement tool. In a down economy, few chances exist for filmmakers to have their movies picked up. For that reason, a program which created opportunities for aspiring filmmakers to bring their ideas to life, while the world watched via YouTube, appealed to our audience. Utilizing YouTube’s scale and social media’s organic reach to connect audiences to great stories from everyone, anywhere, we drew a clear parallel to the mission and intent of the new Tribeca Film sponsorship.Three components contributed to scaled engagement:1.Key media partnership with built-in video scale2.Proprietary tools and technology that made it easy for people to share their pitch3.Audience design that drove earned traffic and scale

• Over 1.2 million: People who joined the movement by "Liking" Small Business Saturday on Facebook.

• Over 30,000: Tweets sent using the official hashtags @SmallBusinessSaturday and @SmallBizSaturday.

• Over 10,000: Businesses that received free Facebook advertising to promote their products and services before Small Business Saturday.

• Over 100,000: Small-business owners who downloaded point-of-purchase and promotional materials from the event’s Facebook page.

• $500,000: Facebook contribution to add on to the 1MM Facebook Ad Giveaway• 41: Elected officials who declared Nov. 27 as Small Business Saturday.

• 27: Percentage of small retailers that accept American Express cards and saw an increase in sales this year compared with the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2009.