Carrboro Plans 'Think Local' Economic Campaign

Carrboro residents and visitors can expect to see a major campaign in the near future to “Think Local First” when it comes to doing business in the town.

“A lot of consumers don’t understand the magnitude of impact shopping locally has,” said Clay Schossow, a partner and media manager of New Media Campaigns, a web design, development and marketing agency in Carrboro.

On Tuesday night, Schossow gave a presentation about the work of the Think Local First Committee to an enthusiastic Carrboro Board of Aldermen, at its first meeting after a summer break.

Just before the Board adjourned for the summer, it appointed the committee, which met two hours every week from mid-July through late August.

Overseen by the Town of Carrboro’s Economic and Community Development Director Annette Stone, the committee started with eight local businesspeople, and grew to about 15.

The goal of the brainstorming sessions was to find ways promote a stronger local economy; to raise consumer awareness about the importance of that; and to get local businesses talking to each other too,

The committee looked BALLE for some guidance. BALLE, which stands for Business Alliance for Living Local Economies, is a nationwide network of more than 50,000 local community entrepreneurs. The organization promotes localism.

At Tuesday night’s Town Hall meeting, Schossow noted that the snazzier new Town of Carrboro website is up-and-running, and that said he sees another opportunity there.

“The new logo, the slogan – everything really dovetailed really nicely to launch a local business campaign,” said Schossow.

He said the first goal is to get local businesses to support the campaign, and to to turn to each other to fulfill needs that could include promotional T-shirts, work in the trades, and catering.

Schossow told the Board of Aldermen that about 50 businesses have been contacted about the local business initiative, and he said that most are “extremely interested.”

Another goal, said Schossow, is to Increase consumer awareness about what local Carrboro has to offer that could save a consumer a trip all the way to Southpoint.

Schossow added that the Think Local campaign will reach beyond downtown.

“We wanted to make sure that we reached out to the periphery,” said Schossow, “and we had all of Carrboro thinking locally, and the same with businesses. We’re not jus talking about downtown businesses. We’re talking about everyone in Carrboro proper.”

He also talked about attracting tourists, as well as “daytrippers” from neighboring towns and cities who come to Carrboro for specific reasons – a show at the Cat’s Cradle, for instance, or a visit to the Farmers’ Market. He’d like to see more of them stick around for brunch, or some retail shopping.

The Think Local group plans to organize a series of events that gets local businesses working together, and doing business with each other.

The kickoff event for that effort will be a “Happy Hour” at Venable’s new B-Side Lounge at Carr Mill Mall on Oct. 2.

Schossow said that Annette Stone spent the summer building a list of about 400 viable local businesses in Carrboro.

Out of that, he said he hopes that 60-to-100 business people will show up to the first local event and just start talking to each other.

Other ideas that came out of the summer meeting include an email newsletter that keeps residents and visitors informed of upcoming events.

And Carrboro commuters may soon be seeing an ad on their bus route with the slogan: “Carrboro: Local Matters.”

Carrboro Plans ‘Think Local’ Economic Campaign

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