Mailchimp, once newsletter tool now all-in-one marketing platform had a good 2019. They saw revenues of $700 million in 2019, by all accounts, business was good. 30.7 million small businesses in USA and 12 million of those are apparently Mailchimp customers.
In 2020 the world is hit by Covid-19, a global pandemic beginning in March and quickly leading to Lockdown; thationwide shutdown of businesses and social gathering places, across the globe, the hardest hit by these were SMBs (small to midsize businesses). With many forced to close shop and many more hanging on for dear life, corporations and governments began to respond with grants, funds, support initiatives to try and keep the grassroots economy afloat.
“Mailchimp exists to support small businesses”, they had to decide quickly how to back up their mantra in a time when they had to figure out how the global environment will affect their own business. It had to be authentic, and really helpful. So how would they do it?
Since the early days of the global Covid pandemic, Mailchimp has walked the talk by showing strong support for small businesses the US and beyond. When SXSW 2020 was canceled, the short films due to be shown at the festival were left without a home before their big debut. For many filmmakers, debuting a film at SXSW is a career-defining achievement. To save the filmmakers Mailchimp teamed up with Oscilloscope Laboratories and studio Code and Theory to build a digital showcase for all the short films in just under a week. It was called #SupportTheShorts and it was available through Mailchimp Presents for free.
Auto Designer is a new feature of Mailchimp that used AI to design on-brand marketing graphics and materials for small businesses. This allows SMB owners to get designs in seconds without the need for the human contact that is sometimes required to collaborate. Driving home their stance on support for SMBs, May 2020 saw Mailchimp announce that they will be giving $10 million worth of Mailchimp services to businesses who could not afford to keep using their service and require financial support. They also pledged to invest $100 million in discounts, free add-ons, upgrades and more.
Anthem, Mailchimp’s latest spot in September 2020 is a quirky scratchy 1-min video that focuses on a curious cast of hand-drawn business owners as a metaphor for SMBs everywhere. It is a point in time that Mailchimp raises the totem to say it’s been hard and creativity is a struggle, we get it, you can keep going and we’ll be there with you. The message of hope during difficult times comes through strongly through the scenes, swelling music and reassuring voice over. Lead by R/GA, produced by Buck and featuring a soundtrack by multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi, the entire advert was made during lockdown.
