In 2010, American Express started a rather unique marketing campaign. The campaign was not focused on convincing more customers to open American Express credit card accounts, but instead was looking to create a new holiday and help small businesses stand out among the crowd, at least for one day.

Small Business Saturday has grown each year since its inception and now has a huge following among shoppers around the country. Even the President has shown his support of Small Business Saturday. In 2014, over $14.3 billion was spent at locally owned stores by people who were aware of the special day, a huge number. And what is the benefit to American Express? Well, the company does not have a direct dollar goal in mind, but as far as brand awareness and brand perception goes, one has to imagine that Small Business Saturday is a huge win. Everyone roots for the little guy, and small businesses are David to Walmart’s Goliath… so being able to align your brand (AmEx is a pretty big Goliath brand in and of itself) is pretty smart marketing. 

Small Business Saturday works for the businesses because there are many consumers in the US who want to know that their dollars are supporting their neighbors and the local economy. This is an important motivator for many, and Small Business Saturday takes that motivation and turns it into a celebration for one day.

What Can Be Learned? University of Houston's Cougar 100

Higher Ed Institutions can benefit as well from helping out their own constituent base who own their own businesses. In fact, the University of Houston is doing just that with their Cougar 100 campaign. The Cougar 100 is UH’s way of recognizing and promoting the top 100 UH alumni owned businesses. The campaign benefits the businesses listed because the 100 companies are promoted within the Houston Business Journal and listed on UH’s alumni website.  

Similar to how Small Business Saturday appeals to consumers who are motivated to buy local, the Cougar 100 will appeal to alumni consumers who want to support those they share a common bond with. Many institutions have alumni who will go the extra mile for a fellow alum, and the Cougar 100 will hopefully create a group of loyal consumers for some of these up and coming businesses.

The campaign also benefits UH’s alumni association as well. By encouraging alumni to nominate their own or a fellow alumni owned business, the university is gaining valuable insight into how well a small subset of alumni are doing professionally, which could benefit UH’s development department. The campaign will also help to substantially build and grow its entrepreneur network for current students and future alumni. Lastly, the event and promotion of the announcement of the list creates a lot of positive publicity for the school.

UH is ahead of the curve with this idea. Perhaps the school will even have a Support the Cougars small business day in the future as well!

As mentioned in a prior post, Allstate's recent Mayhem campaign featuring a commercial where the character was breaking into a house and then as part of a digital campaign, web visitors could buy the actual items from the house online (as a way to emphasize the importance of not advertising your vacation plans on social media). This campaign was a huge success for Allstate, bringing in millions of impressions. The campaign was successful because Allstate knew that people would want to go online to see if the company was actually selling products from the supposed house break-in. It caught people's attention and created an inherent sense of curiosity.

Well, Calvin College has created a campaign that introduces a similar sense of curiosity in its Sponsor-A-Square-Inch fundraising campaign. The fundraiser was focused on bringing in new donors for the annual fund by providing the opportunity to sponsor a small square of campus on an online campus map by donating just $10. 

Similar to the Allstate campaign, this fundraising campaign has a teaser in it. If you see this map in an email or direct mail piece, you would want to click on the link just to see how the campaign works and to see which parts of the campus had already been sponsored. Once you are at the site, perhaps you will make a gift as well, so that you can say you "own" a part of the campus. Great job by Calvin College.

Wake Forest’s fundraising campaign surpasses $500 million
http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/higher-ed-notebook-wfu-s-fundraising-campaign-surpasses-million/article_dab739ac-ef76-53e0-9637-137473a9493b.html

Georgia sets new fundraising record at $144 million
http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/local/georgia/2015/07/09/univ-of-georgia-sets-new-fundraising-record-at-144-million/29938397/

Launch UMD pushes to involve alumni and expand fundraising
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/article_730091f8-25be-11e5-9496-97bc84ea6f4a.html

UMass alumni club losing money and luster
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/05/decade-after-opening-umass-club-struggles-realize-its-potential/dzVNmmN0Dlx3ZwiCk4tlCJ/story.html


University of Vermont has record year in fundraising
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont/2015/07/06/uvm-raises-record-donations/29793603/

Western Michigan University Alumni Center on track for October grand opening
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2015/07/wmu_alumni_center.html