City continues investment in businesses

Local and national stores are featured in the 30-second spot being run on Spectrum Cable and social media.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the city of Mentor.

One of the signs is the relaunch of a city-sponsored promotional video touting the community as the shopping mecca that it statistically is.

Local and national stores are featured in the 30-second spot being run on Spectrum Cable and social media.

“We ran it last year and updated it this year,” Community Relations Administrator Ante Logarusic said. “It was inspired by the ‘Visit California’ ads. I loved the idea of showing the variety of everything we have to offer — big and small — and featuring the faces of the businesses when we could.”

The city had been doing a shop small/shop Mentor campaign for years, but it was limited to those companies that chose to participate.

“We didn’t think it offered an accurate reflection of what the city had to offer, so we went with a balanced ad, which mixed mom-and-pops, unique offerings, national chains and, of course, the Great Lakes Mall as our retail hub,” he said.

Logarusic noted Mentor’s ranking as the sixth-largest retail center in sales volume in Ohio. The city accounts for 43 percent of retail sales in Lake County with about $1.5 billion in annual sales.

“Approximately 3,500 people work in the retail industry in our city,” he said. “Supporting our retailers and restaurants is a no-brainer.”

The community boasts more than 300 stores, nearly half of which are within the mall.

“Great Lakes Mall is proud to be a part of that number,” said Marketing Director Kate Miller, adding that the mall contributes more than 120 stores, plus dining and entertainment options, “for shoppers to enjoy this holiday season and year-round.”

The reaction to the “Shop in Mentor” campaign has been positive, but Logarusic acknowledged that it’s difficult to determine its effectiveness.

“This is more of a branding effort as opposed to a singular call to action,” he said. “I can tell you that the reach for the cable buy is 240,000. To date, we’ve had 39,000 views on Facebook and 34,000 views on YouTube. The goal is to get people to get the message, go to shopinmentor.com and download the Visitors Guide, which lists our retailers, restaurants as well as other things to do in the city.”

The city paid $4,000 for about 950 commercials on Spectrum.

The video is one of many ways the city seeks to support its businesses. Other efforts include Small Business Saturday participation, recording/posting grand opening videos and miscellaneous profiles, and regularly sharing other business news on the city’s social media platforms.

The latest initiative involves a New Business Spotlight feature online, to help bring awareness to newcomers investing in the community.

“If you are going to start or expand a business, we want to make it hard for you to choose any place but Mentor,” Logarusic said.