Albert County Chamber of Commerce Shop Local Campaign

About the Client

The Albert County Chamber of Commerce (ACCC) supports businesses throughout the Albert County region, and we have been proudly supporting them for many years. They are an important voice for the business community and provide valuable exposure for our local businesses. Fronted by local businesswoman Annick Robichaud Butland at the time of the campaign, the chamber is made up of passionate individuals who represent a variety of sectors through their own businesses.

Annick and Tosh Taylor fronted this particular campaign, with assistance and support from across the Board.

The Challenge

ACCC wanted to create a campaign that would promote the businesses of Albert County, particularly independent retailers, to the residents to encourage purchases in the run-up to the Holiday Season.

The campaign would involve the sign-up of local businesses and a digital passport that would be issued to anyone who wished to take part. Each time a shopper visited a participating store, a QR code would be scanned to “stamp” their passport. On the successful collection of all stamps, the shopper would then be able to submit their passport to receive a local gift card valued at $25. They would also be entered into a prize draw, with prizes being local gift cards of $500.

This was unlike any undertaking from the ACCC previously and we were excited to help support our local businesses, who were dealing with COVID implications through 2020 and 2021.

The aim of the campaign would be to raise awareness of the local businesses, encourage shoppers to go out to stores supporting local industry, rather than online behemoths. Hoped for KPIs were an increase in traffic to the websites of participating retailers and an increase in footfall where they had a physical store. An additional, less quantifiable, aim would be an increase in the engagement between local businesses and residents.

Our Solution

This was a project with many moving pieces.

Planning and logistics

Any successful project relies upon clearly laid out objectives.

• We created a set of rules for the participating business, and a set for the visitors.
• We created tracking sheets to manage the logistics of the campaign and enable up to date reporting to ACCC as required.

Getting businesses involved

The first part of the project required the sign-up of local businesses. Without them, there would be no campaign! The ACCC has an existing weekly newsletter and social media platforms, which we leveraged to get word out.

• We created newsletter and social media assets calling for local businesses to get involved.
• We sent an initial interest email out to ACCC members with a few simple questions.
• We ascertained how the QR codes would work and decided on the format for reporting from the paper ballots.
• We set up a form on the ACCC website, allowing businesses to sign up, including the upload of their logo for asset creation.

Creating individual business assets

Personalization was required for certain aspects and a nice touch for others. Every participating business received a pack that included everything they needed.

• We created website graphics so that businesses could promote their participation directly on their websites. This included the business name and logo.
• We created social media posts that again included the business name and logo that could be used for promotional purposes.
• We created posters for each business to display in their physical location. This poster included the business name and logo but also featured the QR code that visitors could scan to register their visit.
• We created individual webpages that linked to the QR codes. Each page displayed where the QR code was scanned and asked people to register their details. A confirmation email was automated on submission.
• We also organised the creation and delivery of ballot boxes for each physical location and paper ballots with the appropriate branding in case people wished to take part but could not use the QR codes.

Campaign promotion

The campaign needed assets to promote itself too. Again, we leveraged existing ACCC platforms to spread the word.

• We added graphics featuring a campaign logo to the homepage of the ACCC website that fed through to a general campaign page. This page included a summary of the campaign with links to the list of retailers and the rules.
• We created a checklist of participating businesses that served as the visitors’ passport. This was available in digital and paper form.
• We surveyed the participating businesses at various stages to gauge their expectations, comfort with the rules, and the campaigns success.