Project Better Together Announces Holiday Shopping Campaign
(Iowa City, IA) – November 9, 2020 – A unique holiday shopping campaign launches today in Johnson County, designed to continue the call to support local businesses by shopping local. An initiative of Project Better Together, the partnership led by the Iowa City Area Business Partnership, Iowa City Area Development Group, Think Iowa City, and the Iowa City Downtown District, the Holding Our Own for the Holidays campaign will provide $7,000 in prizes from now to the end of the year.
The holiday campaign follows in the footsteps of the very successful Holding Our Own shop local campaign, which generated an economic impact of $823,870 in Johnson County between June and October of this year.
“Small local businesses continue to be adversely effected by the pandemic,” said Beth Meyer, Director of Marketing and Communications of the Iowa City Area Business Partnership. “This program incentivizes local spending by rewarding purchases of any value while providing prizes from local businesses.”
From November 9 through December 30, consumers can submit a receipt from a qualifying locally owned business in Johnson County to the ICAreaTogether.com website. Receipts may be in any amount, which is a major difference from the previous campaign, which required receipts to total $150 per submission.
Participants may submit an unlimited number of receipts from qualifying businesses to be entered into the weekly prize drawings. Each Wednesday from November 18-December 30 ten people will receive a prize worth $100 to select gift cards from a variety of local restaurants, retail stores, hotels, and non-profit entertainment venues. Non-winning entries each week will carry forward to subsequent weekly drawings. A non-purchase option for entering the prize drawing is also available.
The program is made possible by support from CHOMP, Veridian Credit Union, MidWestOne Bank, and ThinkIowaCityHotels.com. The project is still seeking additional partners and encourages any business to contact them if they wish to become a sponsor.
“The shopping is local. The prizes are local. The support is local,” said Meyer. “We encourage everyone to take part in this campaign as you shop this holiday season.”
Full details can be found at ICAreaTogether.com/Holidays/