www.missionzerofest.org

The words, “green” and “sustainable” are ubiquitous and have many meanings.  Even in the sphere of owning or leading a business the two concepts represent a wide variety of topics.  We won’t get into the definitions here but we do want to suggest that we – locally – take up the challenge of attaining these positive attributes even while operating in an uncertain economy.

The adoption of sustainability, as Deloitte has noticed, has been on a gradual path: “At first, organizations were just trying to be good corporate citizens, focusing on energy conservation and offering “green” products. It felt good to do, but it wasn’t central to the business. More recently, many business leaders have begun to view sustainability as a more integral component of their business strategy, identifying opportunities and risks as a way to enhance revenue, margins and brand value. Organizations with a broader, more strategic plan for sustainability will not only drive innovation across their enterprise—including transforming key processes—but may also influence what their customers want and how their suppliers operate.”

The establishment of a Washtenaw Green Chamber of Commerce, we believe would facilitate a framework that would work for, and be a benefit to, local businesses at any point along this gradual path.  We invite you to glance at our instigational outline and leave a comment.

“Belly” is a funny name, but it’s one that’s catching on.  Today, the New York Times Small Business Blog post by Jessica Bruder introduced the country to this crazy little start-up out of Chicago.  This is significant for Buy Local Ann Arbor since we have been cajoling Belly to come to the area for a while now.

Belly is a new customer loyalty program that incorporates customer-facing iPads to engage loyal shoppers.  They say, “Belly gives boring loyalty campaigns a good kick in the pants by offering exceptional customer rewards, making it fun, exciting and worthwhile to return to your favorite places.”  From what we’ve seen, we agree.

“This is exactly the kind of engagement that’s needed to keep customers coming back,” says Ann Arbor-based hyperLOCAL Connections owner Gint Gaska.  “The combination of an engaging interface via the iPad, the provision of both plastic cards or a smartphone app to facilitate participation and the total flexibility to offer fun and venue-unique rewards makes Belly the leading small business loyalty program out there.”

“It also doesn’t hurt that Groupon’s funding arm, Lightbank, has recently filled the Belly’s belly,” says Gaska, referring to the $1 million gained in December.

We’ve been watching the growth of this campaign in Chicago swell from a handful to 500 businesses in about 4 months.  When we saw that Belly opened-up for business in Madison we began pushing for Ann Arbor area coverage as well.  They send you a “lunch box” that includes the iPad and everything a business needs to get started.  Buy Local Ann Arbor recommends that local businesses – any SE Michigan business that has walk-in traffic – sign-up – for both our free City Guide listing and more information on Belly.

See who’s Rockin’ a Belly already.

Woot woot!  The second version of our City Guide app came out today.

Local merchants can still be listed in this edition of the app free of charge.

Residents can get unique deals that encourage us and maybe even {Reward} us for – wait for it – buying LOCAL!

Version 2.0 of the Ann Arbor Buy Local {City Guide} is under construction.  The next version of the iOS mobile app is called “The Holiday Edition” and will feature locally-owned businesses and the specials they offer for local shoppers concerned about keeping their money close to home.

We are looking for a local photographer to supply us with an Ann Arbor holiday scene from 2010.  If you have, or know someone who has any digital images of Ann Arbor shopping districts from last year, please email (or call) us: info at buylocalannarbor.com  We would like to select a beautiful winter shopping image as the default background in the app, and of course, give credit to the local photographer!

We’re also seeking sponsorship of this buy local app.  For a couple of hundred dollars get your business’s logo on the main default page.  Contact us soon since space is limited.  Local merchants should contact us to make sure their listing is up to date and reflects the “Holiday Special” they would like to reward smartphone users with.

We find it encouraging that a small town 150 miles north of London has recently reported excellent success in signing-up residents to use a loyalty card to support local merchants.

The Grimsby Telegraph reports over 500 people getting the card in a little over a week.  The campaign appears to be advertised online and via a new 16-page insert in the Telegraph.  The insert includes only 30 merchants with offers so far.

This loyalty card program highlights for us the importance of teamwork in the success of such a campaign – teamwork between new digital media and the traditional media.  The local population follows both.  Hence the optimal arrangement would be a combination of both.  We are very open to exploring a co-operative effort to build BUY LOCAL Ann Arbor, and plan on working to discover if any like-minded print media organizations exist in the Ann Arbor area.

Our iPhone/iPad app signed-up 65 excellent locally-owned businesses who would only benefit from this campaign strengthening in this manner.

{Rewards} cards to be given-away

We will be at the HomeGrown Festival in Ann Arbor this Saturday evening.  You might be able to spot us passing-out the free {Rewards} Card to random festival-goers in our attempt to encourage shopping at our independent, locally-owned merchants, retailers and services.

Residents who get the card are then directed to the list of BUY LOCAL Ann Arbor {Partners} who are offering at least a 10% discount.  Of course, cardholders could show the card at any Ann Arbor business in hopes that the merchant might give them a nice “reward” for shopping there because of the card.

The HomeGrown Festival is this Saturday, Sept. 10, between 6pm to 11pm at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market in Kerrytown.  Hope to see you there!

Congrats!

We’re pleased to announce that Linda with Carol Roeda Studio, in Ann Arbor, is our random winner of a $25 Gift Card.  The prize is good at any of the 65 local businesses listed in the {City Guide} app for iPhone/iPad.  The sweepstakes was held to encourage the completion of a 2-minute survey of the {Partners} who have already signed-up to be listed in the app.

As our {Buy Local} campaign grows, we’re always looking for feedback.  The survey asked local businesses everything from questions about the app, to thoughts about social media and mobile device trends.  Our next version the {City Guide} app (a Football Saturdays 2.0 version) will introduce our new buy local {Rewards} loyalty card & Stampt app combo.

We’re continuing to provide free business listings in the {City Guide}  iOS app with an Android version being added later in the year.  Washtenaw County residing business owners need only to sign-up here to partner with us and get the free listing.