01 June 2009
A high profile campaign has been launched to provoke consumers to think about the benefits of buying local and the impact this may have on the local economy. Entitled 'Think Twice, Buy Local', it is being run by Jersey Enterprise, part of the Economic Development Department, and involves students from local schools and marketing professionals from the Creative Jersey organisation. The campaign is also being support ed by the Island's commercial print and broadcast media, who will play a vital role in spreading the message to Islanders and businesses.
Senator Alan Maclean, Minister for Economic Development, said: "Think Twice Buy Local is all about encouraging people to actively think about the choices they have whenever they buy something and the impact those choices may have on the local economy.
This is not about telling people what to buy or where to buy from or about protectionism. It's about raising awareness of the high quality products and services available on-Island and provoking consumers to 'Think Twice' before they buy, and in some cases, rediscover the exciting things on offer here in Jersey."
The campaign was officially launched on Friday 29 May with a 20 foot high light projection of the campaign logo onto the rear of the Cineworld building on the St Helier Waterfront. The projection will be used again later in the campaign, in conjunction with other banner sites, as a way of keeping the message at the forefront of Islanders' minds.
This was just one of a number of innovative ideas developed by local secondary school students, who were invited to take part in the campaign and challenged to come up with new and eye-catching ways of spreading the 'Think Twice, Buy Local' message.
The campaign is scheduled to run until August and while the initial phase will focus on raising awareness of the core message, future activity will offer support for specific sectors of the economy.
Senator Maclean added: "The campaign aims to support all sectors of the economy and the message applies just as much to business buyers as it does to individual consumers. Involving young people in the campaign is a great way to tap into our home grown talent and, with the support of professionals from Creative Jersey, provides a great opportunity for local students to demonstrate their creative skills and gain some valuable experience."
The campaign idea was originally generated by Rod Bryans and came about through his role as an organiser of the business networking group, the 7.45 Breakfast Club. Mr Bryans explained: "The phrase 'think twice buy local' came to me after I heard Kevin Keen, who was Managing Director of Jersey Dairy at the time, talking about what it meant when people bought Jersey Dairy yoghurt as opposed to other brands. In a nutshell, Kevin explained that over 80% of the sale price of a local yoghurt stays in the economy in the form of wages and taxes that benefit local people.
To promote the idea, we had some bags and window stickers made up, and they proved really popular, so I approached Jersey Enterprise for support and they agreed to help take the campaign to the next level."
The project began in March when students from a number of local schools attended a presentation and workshop organised by Jersey Enterprise and representatives from Creative Jersey. The pupils were guided through a professional campaign brief and asked to come up with innovative ideas for communicating the 'Think Twice, Buy Local' message. A host of options were generated and this led to a number of schools being paired with local media partners to produce and deliver specific elements of the campaign.
One such pairing is between Victoria College and local commercial radio station, Channel 103. Students from Year 9 were invited into the Channel 103 studios to work with professional producers and presenters.
Station Director Colin North said: "We loved the idea when it was first presented to us and it’s been an absolute pleasure working with the students from Victoria College. They are incredibly talented and energetic and while the campaign has a very clear theme, the creative work that has gone into making the radio commercial has been very much driven by them."
Will Gorman coordinated the project on behalf of Victoria College: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the boys to get involved in a real project and to apply some of the skills that they have been learning in subjects such English, art and music in a totally new way. They are incredibly proud of what they have produced for the radio, and as you would expect, are very excited at the prospect of hearing it on the radio as a real commercial."
gov.je