American Express OPEN Spotlights Business Owners Who Are Helping Revitalize the Economy and Inspiring Others to "Start Booming"

American Express OPEN, the small business division of the financial services company, is issuing a rallying cry for small businesses to "Start Booming” by launching a national advertising campaign that features real and inspiring business owners. They are "Booming” in part because they have uncovered new and better ways of doing business and are using management tools and services to improve the way they manage their companies.

"While there are certainly people who continue to find the current economy challenging, there are entrepreneurs who are not only thriving but also building a roadmap for future growth,” said Julie Fajgenbaum, vice president at American Express OPEN. "Businesses featured in the ‘Start Booming’ campaign demonstrate an array of innovative business practices that include getting the most out of every dollar spent, knowing how to find new customers, growing their networks, building great places to work, giving back to their communities, getting noticed and doing more business.”

Despite the turbulence of the past two years, many small business owners still display a sense of optimism, which fuels them to persevere, innovate and find new ways to be successful. The essence of this optimism is illustrated in "Reveille,” the first TV advertisement in the campaign which launches today and issues a rallying cry for small businesses to "Start Booming.” The spot offers snapshots of the daily lives of "Booming” business owners across America who are reinventing business to revive the economy.

The multi-faceted campaign will include print, online and TV advertisements and will roll out in three phases. Subsequent advertising will begin to appear later in the summer and will showcase specific innovative small business owners and demonstrate what they are doing to be successful and inspire others to "Boom”.

Featured as part of the campaign are OPEN’s new business tools developed to help entrepreneurs "Boom.” Recently, OPEN has launched four new offerings:

• AcceptPay® – A web-based tool that allows small business owners to accept online payments and electronically invoice customers – all in one place;
• InsuranceEdge^SM – An online portal that offers small business owners real-time, competitive quotes from some of the nation’s leading insurance carriers;
• FX International Payments from American Express – A service that allows businesses to make overseas payments in more than 100 currencies;
• SearchManager – An online solution that allows business owners to easily manage paid search campaigns across all major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing – via a centralized dashboard.

A "Booming” collection of thriving American Express OPEN card member companies is available at www.OPEN.com. These entrepreneurs have already begun to "Start Booming” by uncovering better ways of doing business and taking advantage of business products that allow them to operate their businesses more efficiently:

• Mark Messmore of MMSC Consultants in Michigan uses AcceptPay to integrate e-commerce into his offerings and take his invoicing digital. He is "Booming” by simplifying payments.
• Kathleen Young of Young Family Dental in Colorado uses InsuranceEdge to save money on her coverage. She is "Booming” by controlling costs and putting her savings into revenue-generating initiatives.
• Ahmed Mady of Paragon Remodeling in Virginia purchases everything from nails to hammers on his Gold Card, racking up Membership Rewards (MR) points. He is "Booming” by building homes for needy families with the hundreds of thousands of MR points he’s gathered over the years.

About American Express OPEN

American Express OPEN is the leading payment card issuer for small businesses in the United States and supports business owners with products and services to help them run and grow their businesses. This includes business charge and credit cards that deliver purchasing power, flexibility, rewards, savings on business services from an expanded lineup of partners and online tools and services designed to help improve profitability. Learn more at www.OPEN.com and connect with us at openforum.com and twitter.com/openforum.

American Express is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at www.americanexpress.com and connect with us on www.facebook.com/americanexpress, www.twitter.com/americanexpress and www.youtube.com/americanexpress.

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