Founded by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday started before today’s generation of shoppers could purposefully take part in the day.

Fast forward to 2022: American Express’ Shop Small Impact Study found that if every Gen Z and Millennial shopper in the U.S. spent $10 at a small business on Small Business Saturday, it would support $2 billion in local economic activity throughout the U.S. That, paired with the fact that 65% of Gen Z & Millennial shoppers discover small businesses on social media, provided American Express an opportunity to help a small business community still reeling from a global pandemic and economic headwinds.

American Express created the #ShopSmall Accelerator in partnership with social media’s hottest platform, TikTok, to connect small businesses with the next generation of shoppers. Launched in the lead-up to Small Business Saturday 2022, the Accelerator was a master class made for today’s small businesses, providing them with the tools they needed to reach and engage consumers on TikTok and stand out during the busy holiday shopping season. As part of the TikTok partnership, American Express also created a “Shop Small Soundtrack”, an original sound that TikTok users could add to their #ShopSmall content during the holiday shopping season.

To create a timely news hook that would drive the key message that American Express was helping small businesses meet the next generation where they were, PR commissioned the American Express’ Shop Small Impact Study, which found:

- Two thirds of Gen Z (66%) and Millennials (67%) said they found a new small business on TikTok.

- 80% of small business owners believed their business would benefit from having more of a presence on social media, and that three-quarters (75%) planned to increase their social media presence over the next year.

These insights were used to create consumer and B2B storytelling angles for a wide range of national and local press outlets. To humanize the story the team identified select Gen Z talent partners within paid, partner, creator, and owned assets to serve as third party spokespeople.

American Express launched the #ShopSmall Accelerator before Small Business Saturday to help SBOs prepare to reach the next generation of customers during the holiday shopping season. The Accelerator included a video tutorial featuring three established, culturally-relevant creators, who gave practical lessons on how small businesses could start their own accounts and use TikTok to reach potential customers. Eligible small businesses could also earn a $100 TikTok Advertising credit to get them ready for Small Business Saturday, as a way of encouraging them to start and grow their own TikTok presence.

American Express collaborated with musical artist/Gen Z phenomenon Chloe Bailey to create a TikTok sound, “Shop Small Soundtrack”, that consumers could use when sharing how they supported their local businesses on Small Business Saturday and the holiday season.

American Express pitched the TikTok partnership and the importance of shopping small to print, online and broadcast media across all 50 states.

The #ShopSmall Accelerator connected small businesses with resources, helping them gain visibility and drive more business via TikTok and reach the next generation of shoppers. As a result, the program drew a groundswell of press coverage, social and B2B engagement and tangible small business value.

Results included:

- Nearly 20,000 Small Business Saturday media placements nationally, across all 50 states

- Over 400+ national and local earned media placements that covered the Shop Small Accelerator in outlets including Fast Company, Good Morning America, CNBC, Elite Daily, Complex, Today Show, Inc, Black Enterprise, E! News, Marie Claire and more

- 100% positive to neutral coverage press sentiment

- 835,000+ Creator Video Views

- Thousands of #ShopSmall Accelerator landing page and video visits

- Hundreds of TikTok advertising-credit offer applications

- The Shop Small Soundtrack generated close to two million impressions and nearly 100K TikTok engagements (engagement rate doubled platform average at 8.13%)