news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and chambers across the Triad have started a promotion that brings local business and media companies together to promote the region’s economy.

The program is called “Don’t Pass the Buck: Buy Local.”

Such programs have been around as long as chambers of commerce. But what makes this one different in 2009 is that it combines High Point, Greensboro and Winston-Salem in a broad effort to spotlight local businesses that buy ads under the program.

It uses a common logo that features images of buildings in all three Triad communities. Media partners sell ads to accompany the copy.

The chamber has a couple of rules, but beyond that it’s up to the media outlet and advertisers to do the work.

* Advertisers must be members of a local chamber of commerce.

* Media outlets must give some kind of incentive — a discount, an extended ad package — beyond normal rates.

The Greensboro chamber started a promotion program in December to give a boost to local businesses that might be suffering from the recession.

In January, WXLV-TV 45 from Winston-Salem approached Rob Clapper, president of the chamber, to talk about getting involved to sell ads under the Buy Local banner.

“We started to see a lot more folks wanting to tell the story that locally owned shops and local merchants are the character of the community,” Clapper said. “We asked members and we asked other folks.”

Soon, the chamber had linked up with the Winston-Salem and High Point chambers as well as other media partners.

The new program just got rolling a few weeks ago, and includes WFMY, WZTK (101.1 FM Talk), Fairway Outdoor Advertising, Triad Living Magazine, Boom Magazine and YES! Weekly in addition to the News & Record.

A recent page in the News & Record featured ads by the Greensboro Children’s Museum, Discovery Learning and Brixx Pizza.

Not all of these are purely local, and some are connected with a chain, but they’re all typically owned locally and employ local people, Clapper said.

The idea is to raise awareness and cause people to think about their shopping habits.

“Are you spending it in the Triad or are you going to Southpoint outside of Durham or are you going to Charlotte because they have one or two stores that are not currently located here?” Clapper said, “when those same products are located here.”

It also generates more receptive customers for ad sales, he said. An account representative can get a foot in the door by mentioning the chamber program and generate an immediate advantage.

It’s not science, Clapper said, just common sense.

“I’d love to tell you there was a study done and panel discussions,” he said, “but it was just that we need to do this so we were complementing each other across the region.”

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com