Board launches Round 2 of Make it Main St.
Initiative helps to promote small, local businesses.
UPPER MERION >> The Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board (VFTCB) has launched a second round of its Make It Main Street consumer marketing campaign.
The new round of promotion launched on March 1 and continues to promote small, local businesses in Montgomery County. This time, the effort is putting the focus on the importance of shopping local and what it means to be part of a community.
The current media strategy will run through the end of May, according to the agency.
Among the businesses spotlighted in this round are bakeries, breweries, retail stores, hotels, golf courses and arts and culture venues throughout the county.
Working again with 20/20 Visual Media, the tourism agency recorded 12, one-minute “Meet the Business Owner” vignettes across 11 towns throughout the county including: Ardmore, Blue Bell, Collegeville, Conshohocken, East Greenville, Glenside, Green Lane, Hatboro/Horsham, Lansdale, Narberth and Norristown.
“Shopping local means supporting your neighborhood, and a family’s livelihood,” Justine Garbarino, senior director of marketing and business development for the VFTCB. “These businesses are at the center of our industry. They are the faces of our towns and communities. When you think about important memories, and unique experiences, they’ve most likely been a part of them. So, it’s important that we continue to work together to support them.”
According to Rachel Riley, spokeswoman for the VFTCB, round two has gotten off to a good start and has exceeded expectations.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start to round two,” she said. “We’re already beyond results from part one. The website is already at more than 10,000 pageviews, which is more than 25% of the pageviews at the end of the first phase. Digital ads have served more than 1.3 million impressions, YouTube ads have delivered more than 350,000 impressions, and social video views are at 375,000.”
As it did for the first round of the Make It Main Street initiative, which launched in October, the VFTCB once again partnered with Montgomery County and the Commerce Department on the $400,000 project. The second round is being funded by the county through money received from the CARES Act.
“There’s no better way to get back to a sense of normal with our friends and families than by spending time in the heart of the communities we love. Dining out, shopping local, and experiencing something authentic with the people that matter most are the kinds of experiences that everyone is eager to get back to,” David Zellers Jr., director of commerce for Montgomery County, said in the release. “Montgomery County’s diversity of place offers unique places to explore, and opportunities to support the small business owners and workforce that are our friends and neighbors.” He added that while remaining vigilant against COVID-19, “now is the time” to plan a Make It
Main Street adventure.
The media strategy includes a partnership with NBC10 and Telemundo 62 where the VFTCB’s 30-second Main Street commercial will air during programming like the Today Show and local news.
The partnership allows for a couple of “firsts” for the organization including the first time a VFTCB television commercial has been translated into Spanish, as well as appearing on OTT (OverThe-Top like Roku devices, or Apple TV) advertising to directly target consumers.
The VFTCB is also partnering with two regional shows to showcase seven towns and more than 15 businesses: a five-week series on NBC10’s Philly Live, and three
segments on 6ABC’s FYI Philly.
“This partnership is going extremely well. We are able to showcase even more businesses, and get them TV exposure this way. Plus, both shows share all the information on their websites, too, for increased promotion,” Riley said, adding that Philly Live provides an opportunity to brand with Main Street Mondays, and feature different towns and businesses over a five-week period.
The Main Street spot is also airing during various Flyers, Sixers, and Phillies pre-game, ingame, and post-game shows, as well as on live streams and virtual signage, through a partnership with NBC Sports.
The VFTCB is also working on an innovative technological component
with Bandwango: a Main Street pass for visitors and locals to discover the best of Montgomery County as a destination. Once someone signs up, the pass is delivered directly to a mobile device via text, or email, for instant activation. This component will debut in June.
The initial Main Street program launched with a 30-second commercial and 10 business vignettes in October 2020, and resulted in more than 400 radio spots; almost 9,000 website pageviews; 760,000 video views; more than 640 TV spots for 4.3 million impressions; 4 million individual social media users reached with #MakeItMainStreet; and 9.5 million digital impressions.