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We Put 5,300 ‘Wallets’ In The Mail!

Business and community leaders throughout Central Iowa are opening their mailboxes this week to find a “Look Local First” wallet inside.  The wallet is the latest marketing piece of the “Look Local First” campaign, the brain child of the Regional Business Development Board, which encourages decision makers and purchasing agents in the metro area to consider the real impact and value of making common business expenditures locally.  The wallets, created by Saturday Manufacturing, were addressed to 5,300 partners  and mailed on Monday.

Each year, businesses and governments in Greater Des Moines spend more than $13.4 billion with out-of-area suppliers. Shifting just five percent of a business’s spending to Central Iowa vendors could generate an economic impact of more than $1 billion for Greater Des Moines. That’s why the Greater Des Moines Partnership created Look Local First—an initiative to promote expertise, products, and services in our own backyard.

“Keeping more dollars in Central Iowa is a great way to grow our businesses and strengthen the local economy,” says Ed Minnick, Chair of the Partnership’s Business-to-Business Committee that oversees the campaign. “Money spent locally does come back. We have a better economy, jobs are plentiful, we have better schools, better roads, better everything.

The wallets are the second strategy of the Look Local First campaign, and continue its fun and playful approach to growing public awareness on a serious business issue:  the real advantages of buying from local businesses and promoting area businesses.  The goal of the campaign is to affect a shift in local business-to-business purchasing to retain five percent of the amount now spent out of the Greater Des Moines area.  Economic research behind the campaign shows even a five percent shift in local purchasing practices can have a significant impact on the bottom line for area businesses, and can help to create a sustainable future for the community.

Visit www.looklocaldsm.com for more information.