Go Local Campaign

Feasability Study GANE/Aberdeen City Council



Go Local is all about building partnerships and joining forces. Together keeping our local areas attractive for residents, visitors and businesses, our high streets vibrant and towns inspiring. Go Local is therefore an ideal vehicle for the arts, heritage, business and tourism sector to work together in creative ways, find solutions and make the most of all the different skills, talents and expertise we each hold.

Go Local is a philosophy, more than a set list of rules – and at this point in time we are also still very open to suggestions of how you think it could work. There will be lots of ways of doing it. It can be town-specific, area-wide, it can be a modest awareness-raising campaign or a full-blown festival. It can promote cross-boundary working or it can be a focus for better communication within a given community, between the culture, business and community sectors. Whatever shape or form you may choose, Go Local is about highlighting what makes your area unique and making people aware of all the great quality that is available right on their doorstep.

Criteria

The shape and size of your Go Local campaign would depend on the size of your community and the type and amount of organisations wishing to be involved. It is up to you how you do it, when you do it and with whom. There are however a couple of important criteria to stick to when setting up your campaign:

1. You need to demonstrate that you are working in partnership with others and not only promoting your own business/organisation under the Go Local banner. Building up and strengthening local networks and cross-sector working is key.

2. Go Local is an audience development campaign in principal and therefore requires from participating arts organisions that increasing participation in the arts should remain at the heart of your initiative. Go Local should not be solely about increasing the sale of artworks or any local product for that matter.


Below are a few ideas to try out as part of your own local Go Local campaign*:

• Get all participating venues and businesses locally to display the Go Local sticker in their window to raise awareness and get recognition of the campaign amongst the public.

• Set up a local Cultural Ambassador Scheme. Local businesses/shops working in partnership with their local arts venue(s), promoting what is going on culturally in return for marketing exposure on website/brochure or complimentary tickets for events. This raises awareness of both parties amongst existing and new audiences.

• Create a Go Local loyalty card that can be used by customers in both local shops as local arts venues. “Filled up your card? Choose from a list of discounts/offers from participating businesses: two-for-one tickets at the theatre / a free glass of wine at the restaurant / a discount at the bookshop / a free loaf of bread at the bakery.” Monitor it for a set period of time to see if it works or not.

• Organise arts events in unusual business premises or other locations. This may help you reach new audiences who still see the arts as ʻnot for themʼ or are not familiar with it. How about live music in the bakery? A poet in the garden centre? This would also be a great press opportunity for both the arts and any premises the event is held at.

• Launch your local campaign with a big bang, together with other venues and businesses, get the press involved, distribute Go Local marketing material to people in your community, get people enthusiastic and aware. After the launch, make local events during the year part of your unique Go Local campaign.