Small Business Saturday: 100 Jingles Case Study

Hyper-localized content produced at scale

The Challenge: Small businesses faced an existential crisis in the wake of the global pandemic and leading up to the 2021 holiday shopping season, 78% of small business owners said their holiday sales would determine their ability to keep their doors open in 2022. Many small businesses lack the time and resources to create their own marketing materials, and amplifying their marketing efforts, particularly during the crowded holiday marketing season, seemed like an impossible challenge to overcome.
The Solution: Amex presents "Jingle Sells". From barbers to bakeries to bookstores to bike shops, we sang the praises of over 100 small shops around the country with their very own custom jingle. The lyrics of each jingle were developed in partnership with each small business owner, to ensure they received a tailored piece of marketing that truly reflected their business. We helped them identify the one big thing that was most memorable and then turned that into an earworm performed by professional musicians and a cast of singers including Broadway performers. I served as the hands-on architect, personally researching and cold-calling hundreds of merchants and managing a complex modular production design that allowed for rapid-fire, high-quality content creation.
The Results:
- Most successful Small Business Saturday in Amex history: $23.3B in small business sales, an +18% increase YOY
- A fully integrated creative campaign across TV, CTV, Social, Digital, Audio and Search delivering nearly 500M impressions
- Engaged hundreds of small business partners turning them into brand advocates and champions of our Shop Small message
- Industry Recognition: Awarded a Silver Clio for Collaborations & Partnerships, cementing the project’s status as a benchmark for creative merchant support

Local Market Specific

Custom jingles for priority markets like NYC, LA, Chicago, San Fran and LA

Andytown Coffee

"Beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans"

Best Fish Taco in Ensenada

The only fish taco stand that offers stand-up comedy while you wait.

Brooklyn Blooms

Beautiful floral arrangements in one-of-a-kind found vases.

CREDITS

CLIENT: American Express
Title: Jingle Sells
Air Date: 2021

AGENCY: dentsuMB

Account: Joey Ziarko (VP, Account Management), Ali Napier (Account Director), Troy Hudson (Account Executive)
Creatives: Julie Scelzo (Global ECD), Bo Jacobson (CD/Copy), Alyssa Ollis (ACD/Art)

Other contributing writers: Rebecca Albert (CD/Copy), Christina Pitsinos (CD/Copy), David Black (CD/Copy),
Production: Celia Everett (EP), Jerry Krenach (SVP, Global Music Production), Serena Bove (Integrated Digital Producer)

PRODUCTION CO: Mirada in partnership with Circle Productions
Director: Mathew Miguel Cullen

Editors: Darren Richmond and Michael Hackett
VFX: Nice Shoes

Color: Company 3, Siggy Ferstl

MUSIC PRODUCTION CO: Score a Score