American Express is taking aim at small businesses with a user-generated contest and campaign called “Shine a light,” asking participants to nominate and then vote online for a small business that’s inspiring its community with its resilience and entrepreneurial spirit.
The financial services company, which currently targets small and mid-sized businesses with its “Open” community platform and products, has teamed with NBC Universal to launch an integrated cross-platform campaign that will celebrate the ingenuity of small businesses.
Through Sept. 13, participants can nominate or vote for a business by registering at the contest’s microsite on iVillage, an NBC Universal-owned Web property. They can then nominate a business they know that has distinguished itself by innovating in tough times, made an outstanding contribution to its community, or proven its merit through exceptional customer service.
“People across the country care about the local shop down the street and the restaurant downtown,” American Express vice president for global media, content and community Nancy Smith said in a release. “The passion, dedication and resilience of these business owners are especially relevant in times like these. They are the key drivers of economic recovery, and through this program, we look forward to spotlighting the wonderful work that they do every day.”
After being vetted by Amex and NBC Universal for eligibility, the nominees will be winnowed down to three by first internal judges and then a celebrity panel of designer Diane Von Furstenberg, MSNBC host J.J. Ramberg and TV star Ellen Degeneres. The three finalists arrived at will then go up on the Shine a Light Web site for popular voting, and a winner chosen after Oct.16.
That winning business will receive a $50,000 cash award and another $50,000 in marketing support from American Express, in some combination of local TV or online campaigns, Web site development assistance, or media planning and creative execution. The winner will also be profiled on Ramberg’s MSNBC small-business show, “Your Business.” All three finalists businesses will get a $10,000 ward, and the nominators of those three finalists will receive a $3,000 American Express gift card.
The rules: Nominators can’t be employed by, invested in or related to the staffers of the businesses they put forward, and they must get the business owner’s permission to submit the operation in the contest. The businesses must be privately owned, independently operated, run for profit and have no more than 100 employees and annual revenues no larger than $10 million. Oh, yes—they must also accept American Express cards.
The “Shine a Light” campaign will integrate heavy broadcast and online promotion, including two 60-second clips on the Web site featuring Tom Colicchio, a celebrity chef from “Top Chef” on NBC’s Bravo Channel, and S. Epatha Merkerson, an actor on the long-running NBC crime drama “Law & Order”. Both talk about favorite small businesses in their neighborhoods and urge viewers to nominate their own choices. Future video content to promote the contest will be tailored to other NBC TV properties including the “Today” show, “First Look”, and “Your Business.”
The program will also get heavy promotion on the iVillage site, including a series of articles over the next three months offering tips and insights on running and optimizing small businesses.
“’Shine a Light’ highlights the full scope of our capabilities,” NBC Universal president of sales and marketing Mike Pilot said in a release. “We’re extremely proud of this campaign which shows how collaboration with a client and their agencies can lead to a smart, layered and custom enterprise marketing solution that covers everything from talent to technology.”
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