Our primary goal with the BC Buy Local campaign is to connect local business promotional efforts to the larger buy-local movement in B.C. to garner greater media attention, increase local business purchasing, reinforce customer loyalty, and improve local government support for small and local businesses, both consumer and business-facing. Thanks to the support of our partners, we have consistently delivered the high level of engagement needed to meet this goal, allowing us to continue creating a significant, lasting impact on communities, local businesses, and the B.C. economy.
In 2023 we expanded the buy local campaign to include more consistent postings on major purchasing holidays and a new campaign aimed at a business-to-business audience. The new Amplify Local campaign was launched during Canadian Small Business Week, with a video ad throughout the week, workshops for business, and daily posts with a call to action.
Our holiday consumer campaign (BC Buy Local Week - Nov.27-Dec.3) achieved the consistently high level of engagement we have achieved over the years. In 2023 we allowed our partners more flexibility in the delivery of their video ads to better coincide with specific community needs and timelines. Several partners chose to run their ads outside BC Buy Local Week. As a result, the impressions and engagement for those ads are not included in the statistics reported here, which is a departure from previous years. We expect our results to increase once these deliverables have been completed.
Overall, both campaigns achieved an average of 50% engagement, an increase of 5% compared to last year’s engagement rate of 45%. The engagement on our partner ads was 76%, an increase of 8% compared to last year's engagement of 68%. We expect this to increase after all partner video ads have been delivered.
A BIG THANK YOU to all of our BC Buy Local 2023 partners! B.C. Buy Local provides a platform for community partners to activate the campaign in their communities, relying almost entirely on the shared contributions of our community partners.
