On the back of raising widespread local awareness of the benefits of supporting local businesses, the Keep It Local campaign is upping the ante to obtain increased support from those in a position to influence.
Earlier in the year businesses were encouraged to download a letter from the www.keep-it-local.co.uk website and send it to their own MP, nearly 200 letters were downloaded and used to get parliamentary members backing the campaign. Nemo Office Club itself openly wrote to both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, but with so many distractions around the world the campaign organisers have decided it cannot keep waiting for a government response. Local businesses need action now.
“We have had a huge response to the campaign, but participants need more help.” confirms Nemo Office Club MD, Tim Beaumont, “With costs of living rising steeply, households and businesses are under increasing pressure to survive. A bustling community with high employment and occupied high streets gives everyone a mental and financial lift as we look to recover from the pandemic – only by raising the awareness on a national level can we ensure that the benefits are felt in all areas.”
The Keep It Local campaign is about raising awareness, but with the inaugural Keep It Local Week taking place from the 9-15th May, it is now galvanising support for government and local councils to pro-actively incentivise local spending through financial support.
“We believe there should be a financial incentive for somebody to order from their local distributor rather than defaulting to Amazon, we want households to visit their local stationer, butcher, greengrocer and baker rather than instinctively visiting the out-of-town multinational supermarket and we want businesses to consider the local environment and community when choosing a provider. We believe local and national administrations could be doing more to encourage those actions.”
Ahead of Keep It Local Week, the campaign has instigated a poll to fully gauge the feeling of the nation before using that data to launch the next orchestrated appeal to authorities. The poll can be found at www.keep-it-local.co.uk.