Campaign urges residents to love, shop Sackville

SACKVILLE
By Kevin Toal - The Weekly News
Over the upcoming months, the Sackville Drive Business Association will begin unveiling a new marketing campaign with multiple goals. The group intends to show how retailers support the community, the importance of buying locally, and the opportunities for business growth.
"They (SDBA) were looking for a way to promote existing businesses along Sackville Drive, conduct activities related to business promotion and potentially attract new businesses to Sackville Drive," explained SDBA executive administrator, Michelle Champniss.
In October 2008, the SDBA hired Bristol Group Inc. to prepare a demographics study and devise the campaign at a cost of just under $50,000. A total of 349 residents were surveyed to discover where they shopped, what they bought, and what type of businesses they wanted to see in the community. The results were presented at the annual SDBA Spring Meet and Greet on May 14 in Lower Sackville.
"Part of the objective of the demographics study was to have concrete evidence of the need and want for specific products and services by the community which can be used to sell Sackville as a place to set up shop," explained Champniss. "Another reason for the demographics study is to have data to compare to in years to come to see where we have improved and what we still need to work on."
Neal Alderson, communications consultant with Bristol, pointed out that approximately 90 per cent of those living in Sackville, shop within the community. Even so, there was still room for improvement. Advising residents how local businesses support the community would show the value of buying locally.
Alderson used the example of a store he might normally visit once a week. "I might shop there three times a week if I knew they give back to the community," he said.
According to Alderson the concept is fairly straightforward. Money spent within Sackville helps make for a better community. This is evident in the fact that SDBA members support local sports teams, donate to charity, and help organize special events such as the Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
Keeping the campaign simple, Bristol designed an asterisk as the logo with the words: Live. Shop. Love. The word Sackville is directly beneath. The idea of the asterisk is to indicate that there is more to see.
"Just like using an asterisk in a written document, we want people to stop and realize that there's more to the story than simply just shopping in Sackville," explained Champniss. "Shopping in Sackville makes a difference in the community. The board is looking at updating our website and one of the ideas discussed was to add a section that would feature a business with an asterisk above and under would give a description. For example: This isn't just Joe's Pizza. This is Joe collecting for the food drive which will help those in need in our community."
Starting May 29 the campaign will go public. Look for it in local stores, print ads, bus shelters, and other locations including the SDBA website at www.sackville
drive.ca.
atoal@ns.sympatico.ca