The last video of the West Nipissing Chamber’s Shop Local series was posted last Friday, which means the campaign is winding down, set to wrap up at January’s end.
It was the first of a kind for the chamber and the shop local campaign, launched in October, focused on three categories—eat local, holiday shopping and everyday items and services.
“These sub-campaigns focused on West Nipissing Chamber Members,” explained the chamber of commerce’s executive director, Rebecca Foisy, “to highlight their business via our social media pages.”
The goal of the campaign, besides highlighting local business, was to encourage residents to keep their money circulating in town rather than buying from online retail juggernauts.
“Christmas was a busy time,” Foisy recalled, as the chamber launched a holiday shopping passport in support of the campaign. Visit stores, have your passport stamped, and be eligible for a draw to win gift cards from local businesses.
The purpose was “to boost the local economy, and encourage people to go local,” for their shopping.
“I wanted to emphasize that you don’t need to leave the community or shop online, you can do it all in Sturgeon Falls” and the surrounding area, Foisy said.
And “each member of the chamber was featured at least once” on the chamber’s social media pages.
Videos were a key component of the campaign and were produced by Matteo Mione, the chamber’s graphic designer.
The campaign also received a push from community organizations who partnered with the chamber. The municipality of West Nipissing, Economic Partners Sudbury East / West Nipissing Inc., all came aboard, as did College Boreal, Employment Options, Franco Cite, and Ecole secondaire publique Nipissing Ouest.
“These partners were encouraged to share the campaign with their membership and connections,” Foisy said. “It was also imperative to reach out to local education institutions in the region to share with the youth why it is important to shop local.”
“We had great feedback from the public and the community,” she said, adding “most of our social media following is on Facebook, and we had a lot of comments and reactions” to the videos posted there.
“We also gained a few new members” to the chamber “because of this campaign,” Foisy enthused.
As for the videos, there may be more on the horizon, as plans are underway to secure more funding for the program and extend the campaign.
However, as of Friday, “that was the last of the videos, although officially the campaign is ending at the end of this month.”
“But I’m hoping we can extend it to the beginning of March,” Foisy said. “That’s something I’m waiting to hear back on.”
To keep up with the campaign and watch the videos highlighting local businesses and the importance of shopping local, visit the Chamber’s Instagram or Facebook page.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
