PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN PROJECT BUY LOCAL LOGAN COUNTY

BELLFONTAINE HIGH SCHOOL DECA 555 E. LAKE AVE BELLEFONTAINE, OH, 43311 SHAUNA SMITH & KELSIE BLAIR MARCH 17, 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...1 One page description of the project...1 CAMPAIGN THEME OR FOCUS.2 A. Statement and description of the issue to be addressed...2 B. Rationale for selecting the issue4 C. Description of the target population (such as community, school, etc.)..5 LOCAL MEDIA AND OTHER PROMOTIONAL POSSIBILITIES.10 A. Local print and broadcast media available.10 B. Other possible promotional activit(ies)13 C. Media mix and rationale for media and other promotional activit(ies)14 CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION AND IMPLIMENTATION...15 A. Organizational chart, member involvement and job description.15 B. Description of the campaign and documentation..18 C. Estimated impact on the target population.26 EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...26 A. Evaluation of the process.....26 B. Recommendations for future campaigns27 BIBLIOGRAPHY...29 APPENDIX.29

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI. VII.

I.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One page description of the project

II.

CAMPAIGN THEME OR FOCUS

A. Statement and description of the issue to be addressed There is no greater country on Earth for entrepreneurship than America. In every category, from the high-tech world of Silicon Valley, where I live, to University R&D labs, to countless Main Street small business owners, Americans are taking risks, embracing new ideas and - most importantly - creating jobs. `Eric Ries Fact: Logan County, Ohio has greater than 45,000 residents that buy local. When it comes to buying local in a community town, it has been brought to our attention that consumers are choosing to travel to big cities to shop. Consumers are doing this not only for wants, but also for necessities. Many local consumers do not realize the opportunities that lay within shopping local in their own community. Consumers are choosing to spend money on gas to travel out of town. Practically the same amount of money is being spent on what they want at big box stores, compared to what they would have spent in their own community. In the end, when costs are added up, it costs more to travel out of town to a bigger city to shop in someone elses community than to shop within your own. Without the opportunities of buying local, or the consumers to contribute to the local economy the area suffers. If the economy decreases enough, it may cause local businesses to close their shops, and it continues to minimize the opportunity to support our neighbors, friends, and the community as a whole. The Buy Local Logan County Campaign was created in 2012 to help renew local commerce. Due to the

Recession that occurred in 2008, our local economy had become depressed and small businesses were not thriving. By 2011-2012, as a community, we started to see a turnaround in the economy. In the summer of 2012, Mr. Paul Benedetti, the CEO of the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce, approached us in hope that we would initiate the Buy Local Logan County Campaign. The Buy Local Logan County Campaign is in its second year of operation. By creating the Buy Local Logan County Public Relations Campaign, Bellefontaine High School DECAs goal in an effort to raise awareness of buying local, gaining the attention of consumers, and to increase the amount of consumers that shop locally. By increasing the amount of local consumers, local economy will increase, providing more opportunities for residents and tourists. We are hoping that this opportunity will attract more people to move to Logan County, Ohio and the cities within, to stimulate local commerce and consider Logan County for their shopping needs. B. Rationale for selecting the issue There are many reasons we, as a group, chose the Buy Local Logan County Campaign. Buying local is essential in a community. Many people dont know the benefits of buying local, how much comes back to their community, and what the money
This is the Courthouse in our beautiful city of Bellefontaine, Ohio. The fountain in front of the courthouse represents the meaning of Bellefontaine, which is beautiful spring.

goes towards when it does come back. By undertaking this project, we hope to better educate consumers with our community and potentially create more opportunities for residents as a whole. Some of the benefits of buying local include more money coming back to the community, which in turn produces more jobs and makes this community eligible for new roads, repairs, etc. Buying local will keep communities alive and active. Local business owners and operators care more about the local people on a personal level and will more than likely create some sort of bond with the local residents. Local residents will more than likely get more personalized service, and in turn, get exactly what they are looking for. When people shop locally it is a win- win situation. People do not have to drive as far, which in turn saves them time and money. For example, Bellefontaine is 45 minutes, or more, away from any of the big box stores located in Columbus, Lima, or Findlay. Items may

cost a little more when consumers shop locally, but its all worth it in the end; money is saved and local consumers end up helping their own friends and neighbors in their community. When buying local, 68% of the profits go back to the community. This is a great amount of money compared to when one shops at big box stores, when only 43% of the money goes back to the community. The money that comes back to the community gets spent on many things that are very much needed, such as schools, roads, repairs, construction, and charities. C. Description of the target population (such as community, school, etc.)

Demographics of Our Community. Including ourselves, we live with 45, 858 people in Logan County. The town of Bellefontaine alone has 13,370 of those people. There are roughly 18,463 total households in Logan County and the median resident

age is 39. 10.9% of the population is under the age of 18, which is where we reside. Logan County has a racial makeup of 95.3% Caucasian, 1.3% African American, and the total minority is 5.20%. Geographics. Located 59 miles outside of Columbus, Logan County is known for its crop land, which takes up around 52.81% of its land. It is a great tourist spot as we are also located next to two other big cities including Dayton, 57 miles away, and Lima, 36 miles away. Our History. Many years ago, even though the Native American population percentage of Logan County is 0.20%, Miami Native Americans made Logan County their home, as well as many other Native American tribes. During the period of the 1760s and 1770s, the Shawnee tribe was the leader of this area, and is to thank for building the town of Blue Jacket, now known as Bellefontaine. Bellefontaine was named after the French word for beautiful spring because of the numerous limestone springs that once existed around this area. Bellefontaine was first established in 1820, and since then Bellefontaine, as well as Logan County, has developed significantly. After being established, Bellefontaine grew slowly at first, and in 1837, the first railroad was completed here. With the many railroad workers living in Logan County, the economy prospered. In 1846, the

population was only 610, with four churches, one newspaper office, and eleven stores. After that, due to the railroad company, the town grew rapidly. In 1880, the population was 3,998. In 1886, there were three newspaper offices, two banks, and eleven churches. The population was growing so rapidly that in 1890, the resident number was 4,238. Logan County Economy Decline and Growth. This is the sales tax revenue chart for Logan County, for the years 2008-2014 for January through December. This shows the economic recession from 2008 to 2009, as well as the growth of the economy from the start of the Buy Local Logan County Campaign in 2012 to February 2014.

Psychographics of Our Community Related to the Issue. In 2012-2013, the team of Bellefontaine DECA students who initiated the Buy Local Logan County Campaign conducted a survey about buying local. The results of this survey were produced from 97 people. Out of those 97 people, 81 women and 16 men were surveyed. We utilized this statistic because it was easily accessible; being that the previous students had surveyed Bellefontaine City Schools Staff members. In 2011, MRI conducted a survey called The Survey of the American Consumer. This survey showed that 74.9% of women had given the information that they were the primary shoppers of their households. Of the Bellefontaine City Schools teachers that were surveyed, the age categories that were to be chosen from were 21-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60 or older. The majority of the teachers surveyed fell into the age range of 30-39 and 50-59. When the teachers were asked if they bought locally, the majority, 52%, responded in the category in between sometimes and always. 41 % of these teachers fell into the category of sometimes, while 4% said always and no one responded with never. 63% of the teachers communicated that they believed that local businesses only sometimes have decent quality products, whereas 8% of those teachers said that they believe that local businesses do not have a good variety and quality of products. When the teachers were asked what local stores that they most frequented, many of them listed big box stores like, Walmart, Kroger, Dollar General, JC Pennys, and Lowes. This shows that local consumers are more inclined to shop at big box stores compared to smaller, locally owned businesses. But along with the big box stores, we also received these locally owned stores that were shopped at: Peach Tree Books, Downtown 600 Pizza, Big Orange Shoe Shop, Education Station, Blue Jacket Dairy, Hess Lumber, and Dons Diner. When asked how much money people spent locally on a monthly basis, the average person said that they spent $151, including big box stores and smaller locally owned stores. These consumers were asked what they believed were the benefits of buying local. Their responses included supports the community through jobs, increases sales tax, supports local entrepreneurs, saves gas, keeps money circulation within the community, saves money, and added a friendliness to the community by getting to know local business owners.

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 80% of people said that they go to Columbus, Ohio most often when shopping outside of the community, whereas 22% said that they go to Springfield, Ohio, and 16% said that they go to Marysville, Ohio.

We are very thankful to the Bellefontaine High School DECA students from the class of 2012-2013 who helped implement the Buy Local Logan County Campaign before us and distributed the survey. We have found these survey statistics to be very helpful within our project. These statistics that were received from the survey were very helpful to our campaign because it allowed a helpful eye into the mindset of the consumers of the staff at Bellefontaine City Schools. These statistics helped us, as a group, to decide how to revamp and revise the campaign for this year and to make the Buy Local Logan County Campaign successful. Logan County Today. There are plenty of activities for the tourists to participate in and see, like the First Concrete Street in America, the Shortest Street in America, McKinley Street, and the highest point in Ohio. For residents, there is a movie theater, a bowling alley, roller skating, the Center City Mall, various places to eat and dine, a growing retail economy, and various places to volunteer to help the community, The mascot and inspiration for Bellefontaine City School students is the Chieftain. This is a mural of a Chieftain that former Bellefontaine students painted.

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like Habitat for Humanity, the Top of Ohio Pet Shelter, and local soup kitchens, like Our Daily Bread. Our School. Bellefontaine City Schools has a motto, Equal Access to a Quality Education. This motto provides the mindset of all the students and all of the teachers supporting one another. People who attend BCS everyday support Chieftain Pride and try their best to create a positive energy and positive environment. In total at BCS, there are 1,389 male and 1,218 female students. Of those students, 82.0% are Caucasian, 11.0% Multi-Racial, 4.0% African American, 2.0% Hispanic, and less than 3% are other ethnicities. Here at Bellefontaine City Schools, there are 11 administrators, 176 teachers, 6 guidance counselors, 4 nurses, 12 secretaries, 37 aides, 16 bus drivers, 37 cooks, and 18 custodians which equals 324 employees at Bellefontaine City Schools. In an educational stand-point, there are many clubs and organizations that assist the community and volunteer in numerous ways around Logan County. III. LOCAL MEDIA AND OTHER PROMOTIONAL POSSIBILITIES

A. Local print and broadcast media available In Logan County, Ohio, we have a vast amount of media outlets. There are four print media options, three broadcast media outlets, and four internet publications; all of which were utilized for promotional purposes related to the project. The following are profiles of each. Print Media. The Bellefontaine Examiner-- Logan Countys only daily newspaper since 1891, founded by

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E.O. and H.K. Hubbard is a fifth generation, family owned, multimedia news and information company that reaches over 23,000 people daily by print, Web, and social media channels. On the Bellefontaine Examiners website, they have 2.1 million visits as well as 9.5 million page views annually. The Indian Lake Current A free community publication thats delivered through the USPS each Thursday to 6,500 homes that includes Huntsville, Lakeview, Leiwistown, Russells Point, and at several locations in Bellefontaine, West Liberty, and Indian Lake. The Bellefontaine Magazine The publisher and also the advertising director, Rachel Brumbaugh, handles managing everything that goes into making the Bellefontaine Magazine possible. This magazine reaches out to 20,000 readers each month and advertises about community events and businesses activities. Connect to Home This is a newspaper that is focused mainly on the internet, but can be

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accessed in print media form as well. Brian Evans is the primary contributor to Connect to Home and a significant supported of Bellefontaine High School DECA. Broadcast Media. WPKO/ WBLL Owned by Lou Vito, being
one of the two stations in the county, WPKO focuses on local information and activities. In a day, WPKO has no less than 300,000 hits and as high as 625,000 hits and receive nearly 12 million hit by the end of the month.

Shine FM With having the advantage of having two

signals, Shine FM has estimated an average listenership of around 12,000 15,000. Shine FM fist launched in May of 2012 with a population count of 770,000.

WBCS (Time Warner Cable Station) Every morning before the school day starts at Bellefontaine High School, the morning announcements come on and remind all students of upcoming dates and activities. Internet Media.

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 Facebook On one of the largest social media sites in the world, DECA is promoted and shared to keep the public informed of our activities through photos and status updates. The Bellefontaine High School DECA page currently has 237 friends and is still growing. Chamber Chat The Chamber Chat is an email blast that is sent out to approximately 1,435 residents of Logan County from the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce. The Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce website is also a huge distributor of promotional opportunities for the Buy Local Logan County Campaign, which is also connected to the Chamber Chat. BuyLocalLoganCounty.com This is where all of the deals of local businesses are posted and where information on the importance of buying local can be located.

PeakofOhio.com The PeakofOhios

website always has the top news of each day on local information and corresponds with the radio station WPKO so people have to forms of receiving information. B. Other possible promotional activit(ies)

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There are many activities we, as a group, and our DECA advisor, Katie Rychener, put together and brainstormed about to make this campaign a success. A few things we came up with include: The Hometown Christmas Event. The Hometown Christmas parade, held on December 6th 2013, was a specialty event available. This parade is an annual parade Bellefontaine hosts every year that many businesses and organizations participate in. The parade started at 5:00pm that evening and went until roughly 9:00pm. Campaign Cookies. As one of our businesses sponsorships,
Mayor Adam Brannon is the Mayor of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Mr. Brannon was the reason for the Hometown Christmas Event and has help make our Buy Local Logan County Project successful.

we as a Marketing 2 group, passed out cookies to all of the participating business that signed up, up to that specific point in time. Buy Local Logan County Holiday Tree. Every year, the Logan County Historical Society provides opportunities to area organizations to decorate a Christmas tree for display from Thanksgiving to Christmas (see appendix 2). Small Business Saturday. On Small Business Saturday,

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the Bellefontaine High School DECA Chapter posted a promotional piece on Facebook for Buy Local Logan County. C. Media mix and rationale for media and other promotional activit(ies) With the Buy Local Logan County Campaign, promotion and public relations has been a major part in the success that we have achieved. Promotion and Public Relations is very important with any business campaign, no matter what it is for. As project coordinators, we have worked very hard alongside our advisor, Ms. Rychener, to be able generate great amount of promotion and public relations for our campaign. We are very thankful that we were able to obtain so many ways to promote the campaign, and have truly realized a growth in the campaign from a vast chunk of these promotions. For a small community, our media availability is significant. Local news outlets provided considerable support for our schools and businesses.

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IV. CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION A. Organizational chart, member involvement and job description The Buy Local Logan County campaign is a collaborative effort between the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce and Bellefontaine High School DECA. The campaign was organized in two parts, the public relations piece and a sales component with the sale of the loyalty key tags. The responsibilities of the campaign were divided amongst the following:

Our advisor, Ms. Katie Rychener.

In the center of the chart are the names of the project coordinators. We are students in the Marketing 2 DECA program that are in charge of the Buy Local Logan County Campaign. As

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the project coordinators, we promote, advertise, and recruit businesses for our event. We strongly encourage promoting Buy Local Logan County so that our community is more educated about the opportunities of buying local, and how our community can thrive and prosper as a result of buying local. Our advisor, Ms. Rychener has helped us in so many ways. Ms. Rychener stands as a bridge to connect the gap between the businesses, the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, and the Convention and Tourism Bureau. She guides us in our decisions in the problems that we encounter and has become our mentor throughout this process. The Marketing 2 Class has helped us through our project with educating businesses, as well
Above: Marketing 2 class supporting Breast Cancer Month. Below: Marketing 1 and 2 at Competition.

as the public, and by selling the key tags for the Buy Local Logan County Campaign. The Marketing 1 Class also helps with selling the key tags as a support function to our Campaign. For the Buy Local Logan County Campaign, the businesses that we are partnered with put together an offer that they would like to go on the www.BuyLocalLoganCounty.com website to help promote their businesses. When

handing out information about the Campaign, a complete offer sheet is given to the public with a list of participating businesses. Offers of the businesses can be updated at

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any time they would like, and the new offers are posted to the website as soon as possible for the public to see. The Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Tourism Bureau are the most important partnership that has made this opportunity possible. They have provided many promotional opportunities including the Hometown Christmas Parade, advertising, and hosting the www.BuyLocalLoganCounty.com website. B. Description of the campaign and documentation The following is a time calendar that we devised for organization within our project.

The Buy Local Logan County Campaign is organized around a website; www.BuyLocalLoganCounty.com . This website has all of the businesses listed with their offers, what time they will expire, the business contact information, and in some

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cases, a logo representing that business. To keep all of this information in tact we created a spread sheet with all of the businesses that are participating in this campaign. We also kept a spreadsheet for the businesses we could later more educate about the campaign and the businesses that we have educated about the campaign, but havent gotten a response from yet.

On the spreadsheet there is

We asked the Chief Executive Officer of the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Paul Benedetti, about his thoughts on the Buy Local Logan County Campaign, and these are his words.

a column for the business name, if they turned in their offer sheet, if they turned in their $15 or $25 fee, and the email for that business. After businesses paid their fee to participate, we wrote out receipts and kept them in a binder to keep track of all of

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our money so that toward the end of the project, we could evaluate how much money was actually made, and make sure that all of the businesses paid their fee before their offer went up on the website. Communication was a huge part of this campaign. We used email and face- toface interaction to make this possible. We visited each business at least once and emailed each one many times. These interactions help us, as the project coordinators, answer questions and let the business know where we are standing in regards to their offer being posted and fees being paid. Communication has been the key to this project. key tags to consumers. Also, Adam Rammel, one of our connections from the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, was putting together the website for us to launch our campaign. Mr. Rammel did a phenomenal job with the website and to this day is changing offers and adding businesses to the site for us when the businesses ask us to. Hometown Christmas Event and Parade. Once all of the important aspects of the Hometown Christmas Parade and Event were put into place, the Buy Local Logan County Campaign has the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Hometown Christmas Parade and Event, which furthered the publicity of the campaign. Also, as the project coordinators, we arranged a

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float in the parade. We passed out candy and put our Buy Local Logan County Campaign banners on the side of the float. These banners contain many facts about buying local including: that buying local creates jobs, reduces gas consumption and pollution, $68 out of every $100 spent in Logan County stays there, keeps communities unique, saves money and time, and the fact that 1.5% of sales tax goes to fund local government. To get peoples attention we wore present suits that were green with a red bow. Everyone loved them! This grabbed the attention of the residents and made them come to the booth and ask more about DECA and the Buy Local Logan County Campaign. Our DECA Chapter pitched in and helped us set up a booth on the sidewalk that contained information about DECA, the Buy Local Logan County Campaign, information about our scavenger hunt, and a chance to enter into our drawing for four $25.00 Chamber Choice Gift Certificates. A few of our Marketing 2 members baked the cookies and we all bagged them, and attached a QR code for our Buy Local Logan County website that contained all of the business offers. We attached this QR code to the bottom of the packaged cookies so that the businesses could easily scan the QR code on their phone, or visit the website to verify that their offer was correct. Also, while giving out the cookies, we gave each business their own window sign, and point of sale sign personalized with their specific offer, and our Buy Local Logan County logo.

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This project wouldnt have been possible without the help of the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, our Marketing one and two classmates, and our advisor Katie Rychener. They helped us with a lot; selling the key tags, word of mouth, handing out and making cookies for the businesses, and creating a list of business to target for the project. All in all, so far, this project has been a huge success. Of the available media in Logan County, the following outlets provided us with support currently or will be providing support in the future. The Examiner: On Wednesday, November 17, 2013, the Bellefontaine Examiner promoted the Buy Local Logan County Campaign by informing the public about the loyalty key tags. The Indian Lake Current: During the 2012 campaign, the Indian Lake Current was very supportive and provided us with a front page story related to our campaign. For the launch of the 2013 campaign, we were sending press releases to the editorial staff, under the impression that they were being received. We later discovered they were not, due to the paper hiring a new editor. The staff has stated that they are willing to promote the campaign from now moving forward. The Bellefontaine Magazine: During the holidays, the Bellefontaine Magazine wrote a two-page spread about the campaign and shopping local for the

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holidays. Connect to Home: Brian Evans has offered us the opportunity to provide content at any time related to the campaign for publication. WPKO/WBLL and www.peakofohio.com: On November 27th, the PeakOfOhio.com wrote an article about our second year launch of the Buy Local Logan County campaign. The article begins by explaining our alliance with the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce and factual information about the importance of buying local. The article also describes the new spin we have taken on this years Buy Local Logan County campaign. This year we are giving out keys tags and on the back of the key tags there is a QR code. Anyone who has a smart phone can download the free app of a QR code reader which allows one to scan the QR code on the back of the key tag and see the list of offers of the local businesses. To buy a key tag, one can ask any DECA student or ask local businesses involved in the campaign about the key tags and theyll let us know. WPKO spoke live on the air in an interview with our advisor Ms. Rychener as well about the Buy Local Logan County camping and she spoke in depth about what the campaign is and why we chose it. On November 24th, the PeakOfOhio.com wrote an article about our re-launch of the Buy Local Logan

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County campaign. The article begins with introducing our alliance with the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce. This article gives the basic information that the public needs to know about the campaign. The article explains the new keys tags we are doing this year for the campaign and all the local businesses involved at the time. Shine FM: The owners and operators of the radio station Shine FM, Mark and Tracey, came to talk to our Marketing 2 Class on February 18, 2014. They offered the proposition of promoting the Buy Local Logan County Campaign through their radio station for any future events. WBCS (Time Warner Cable Station): On WBCS, our local cable television station, we posted the Buy Local Logan County logo and how consumers can purchase key tags for the campaign. This was first posted in November and is still running today. Social Media Facebook: The Bellefontaine High School DECA Facebook page is administered by our advisor, Ms. Katie Rychener. Currently, we have 237 friends. Our advisor posts promotional pieces about the campaign and dates or events that our DECA Chapter has organized.

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 www.buylocallogancounty.com: The campaign website is hosted by the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce. The website outlines all of the offers from the participating businesses. The Logan County Chamber of Commerce Website & Chamber Chat: November 2013 through February 2014, Buy Local Logan County has been featured in the Chamber Chat. The Chamber Chat is emailed to 1,435 residents each month. Billboard Media: As a part of the campaign this year, we were provided with publicity for our logo, complements of Richwood Bank. They were launching a brand new shop local campaign of their own called Buzz Points, and decided to cross-promote our efforts. The location of this billboard is State Route 117 and State Route 274. This intersection has approximately 5950 cars and 550 trucks, for a total of 6500 persons plus exposed to daily, which is all at no cost to the campaign. Signage: Fortunately for our campaign, the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce helped us display our Reasons to Buy Local banners at the intersection of State Route 68 and Columbus Avenue. Each day,

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approximately 4530 cars and 420 trucks pass through to see our banners. This means that approximately 4950 vehicles, with theoretically more than one person in the vehicle see our publicity each and every day about the Buy Local Logan County Campaign. B. Estimated impact on the target population We have focused our target population toward all of the Logan County consumers, as well as consumers who shop at big box stores. Our purposes of the Buy Local Logan County Campaign are to educate the community of the advantages of buying local, as well as creating new relationships with small business owners. We believe that the campaign has increased local commerce, interested more residents of Logan County in buying local, opened opportunities for more local businesses to come to Logan County, and helped educate consumers of not only Logan County, but other counties, the benefits of buying local. A. EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Evaluation of the process In October of 2013, we started organizing the Second Annual Buy Local Logan County Campaign, by deciding which businesses that we were going to approach first. Leading into November, we started going around town and talking with businesses, trying to gain participants. Once November 24, 2013, the official launch date of the campaign and the website, came around, the Buy Local Logan County Campaign had twenty-seven business partners. Within the following week after the launch date, we received many more inquiries about the campaign. We are still currently soliciting for participants on a regular basis, as well as looking for new supporters. Unfortunately for

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our campaign, we have had a significant difficulty in soliciting to businesses during the months of December through February. The weather has been a huge influence in not only our campaign, but as well as our supporting activities. On the night of the Hometown Christmas Parade & Event, there was a massive snowstorm that covered all of Logan County. At the event there were many residents of the community, however, the turnout would have been greater if the weather would have been more conducive. B. Recommendations for future campaigns Greater Business Participation. Although the Buy Local Logan County Campaign was a huge success this year, there are a few things that we, as a group, would change for next year, if given the chance. Promoting and advertising was a huge part of this project. We thought that giving flyers to many businesses, handing out cookies, and participating in the Hometown Christmas Event and Parade would be enough to get peoples attention, and get them to participate in the campaign and purchase the key tags. Also, we assumed that all of this promoting would get more businesses to participate in the campaign. This wasnt the case. We have many businesses that are currently participating, but of course we would like to see a lot more. We feel as though if more business participated, more people would buy key tags and participate in the campaign. Improved Communication. Another thing we as a group would change when it came to our project if given the chance is communication with businesses. Because of the unfortunate
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weather weve had this year, we havent gotten as much time to visit the bus inesses that are participating in this campaign. We like to follow up with our businesses and make sure everything is going okay, and to make sure they dont have any questions. Also, we like to drive around to businesses that arent yet involved in the ca mpaign and try to more educate them on it hoping that it would persuade them to want to participate. Because of all of the snow we got here in Logan County and not having school for so many days, we havent gotten as much time to visit these businesses and make sure they have no concerns or questions. The only way weve been able to communicate with them is by email, which is still effective, but we prefer face to face interaction. Chamber Checks. Lastly, if given the chance there is one more thing we, as a group, would change about our project. This happens to be teaming up with the Logan County Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber sells Chamber checks for $25.00 each that are basically like cash but they can only be used for participating business located in Logan County. There are approximately 50 business listed. This year, the Chamber has already sold $65,000 in chamber checks, equaling out about 2,600 checks. We, as a DECA Chapter, believe that if we organize the effort with the Chamber and encouraged people to donate $1 to Buy Local Logan County every time they buy a $25.00 check, that consumer would get a complimentary Buy Local Logan County key tag with their chamber check. This is a great way to get more people active in this campaign and more promote buying local. V. BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.independentwestand.org/13-top-influencers-of-the-buy-localmovement/ http://www.ci.bellefontaine.oh.us/history-of-bellefontaine.html
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 VI.

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Bellefontaine,_Ohio http://www.ci.bellefontaine.oh.us/mayors-office.html http://www.examiner.org/2011-08-07-02-51-05 http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/buying-power http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/small_business.htm APPENDIX During the Hometown Christmas Parade and Event, at our DECA Buy Local Logan County booth, we had this blow up reindeer by the booth to try to gain attention of people passing by.

Appendix 1

This is the Buy Local Logan County Holiday Tree that was set up during the holiday season inside of the Logan County Historical Museum and Orr Mansion.
Appendix 2

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Appendix 3

This is a snapshot of the Buy Local Logan County website. These are the offers of the first four businesses that are listed on www.buylocallogancounty.co m. The offers that businesses have provided to the campaign range from a free drink with a purchase of a three piece chicken meal, to a free consultation about insurance, to a free ptanque lessons.

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