Best In The World 2012
Digitas (US) with their campaign “Small Business Saturday” for American Express, is the big winner in the 27th MAA Worldwide GLOBE Awards. The “Small Business Saturday” campaign and Digitas and CP+B USA, take home the GLOBE for the ‘Best of the Best’ in the World in addition to seven more GLOBE Awards and three Silvers.
In 2010, American Express created 'Small Business Saturday', a new shopping day between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, to support small businesses nationwide. But 2011 was the real test. Could American Express turn this grassroots campaign into a permanent fixture on the American shopping calendar? American Express took Main Street mainstream with an integrated campaign that activated the small business community, consumers, media and brand partners, and even local and national government officials using simple, sharable and powerful social actions. In only its second year, American Express made Small Business Saturday (SBS) a permanent fixture on the American shopping calendar.
The campaign inspired over 500,000 small business owners to leverage the simple, powerful promotional tools that American Express provided online and off to promote their businesses and spread the word about the day. Not only did the SBS Facebook community double to 2.7 million fans, but over 103 million Americans shopped on Small Business Saturday (including President Obama who publicly endorsed it by taking his daughters shopping at an independent bookstore near the White House). American Express also saw transactions increase 23% at small business merchants that day. Lastly, the US Senate unanimously passed a resolution in support of Small Business Saturday.
Including the Best of the Best GLOBE Award above, 72 Awards - GLOBE, Silver and Bronze - were awarded in 25 Categories and announced at the 27th annual MAA GLOBE Awards during the MAA Worldwide Conference at the Park Hyatt, Chicago.
Garo Keresteci, Vice President of MAA Worldwide and GLOBE Awards Chair, paid tribute to the high quality of entries received: “What a great year for our industry in general and in particular for the clients and agencies who submitted campaigns to the GLOBE Awards. This past year we invested in a more robust award management system, made the overall process simpler for entrants and judges, and we updated and expanded the categories – and it really payed off!” The GLOBE Awards continued to attract the Best of the Best in the World, with multiple GLOBE winners in Russia, Brazil, Australia, Canada and the USA. Highlights of the 2012 Program included the domination by the USA with over a dozen GLOBES and the Best of the Best in the World. Entries were received from six continents and some of the most innovative ideas came from Brazil, Russia, China, Ukraine and India.