COP ON 21. Champion Green Campaign launched
Make it a Green Friday on November 26th, is the message from Champion Green, as we look forward to the run up to Christmas…
As this year’s Champion Green campaign is launched, it rallies support for local with it’s Green Friday launch.
The support local campaign has launched to encourage consumers to think about sustainable communities and jobs, and to shop with local businesses this year, both online and instore.
Small business represents the bulk of Irish enterprise and employs two-thirds of people in the private sector, generating 46% of turnover. Local retailers and businesses are an important revenue source for local authorities, funding vital public services.
A recent Champion Green survey* showed that 3 in 4 adults (77%) agreed that it is a good idea to help support their local businesses and community. 68% said they would actively do more to support local businesses this Christmas.
Here are some thoughts from those involved, telling us what Champion Green means.
It means Love Local. Sven Spollen-Behrens, Small Firms Association Director.
Love Local is the message. It’s use it, or lose it, in very simple terms. Jobs and prosperity in communities depends on a healthy national economy. If we do not support local, we lose local shops, businesses and services, as well as the direct and indirect employment those businesses help sustain.
It means: Turn sentiment into action. Ian Talbot, Chief Executive of Chambers Ireland
Many smaller businesses struggled through the pandemic and now have legacy debt and lost custom to deal with. If their recovery is not supported, they may not survive, and convenient local services and shopping are diminished.
It means: Stop spending abroad. Jim Power, Champion Green economist
Spending instore or online with a local retailer, we are supporting the producers of the goods we buy and employment in the shop. In turn, the wages earned are spent again and again. It is estimated that every €1 spent with an Irish retailer can generate up to €2.50 in the Irish economy. But if I spend €1 online with an overseas retailer, that money is lost to the Irish economy entirely; it does not generate any multiplier effect. Consumers must bear this in mind when making spending decisions”.
It means: Support your local retailer. Dominic White, Country Manager, Ireland, Visa
We can all play a role in supporting our local shops and businesses. By choosing to shop local, we ensure that more of our spend stays in the local economy benefitting communities across Ireland. We encourage everyone to get behind the Champion Green campaign this Black Friday and festive season and give local businesses a much-needed boost after a challenging year.
Champion Green is supported by Kilkenny Design and VISA, in association with Retail Excellence, Small Firms Association and Chambers Ireland, and it about highlighting the simple ways everyone can make a difference and help the recovery of small business. The initiative is backed by a €1m investment to drive consumer support for local enterprise and to help SMEs recover business. An Post, Aviva, Maxol and AIB Merchant Services are among the corporate partners backing the support local drive with funding and marketing supports.
Evelyn Moynihan, is the CEO of Kilkenny Design helps run the campaign. For her it also means:
Reduce Waste, emissions and airmiles by staying local.
“Sustainability is important in environmental terms, and means preserving living local communities. Local businesses are a lifeline for charities and community groups, and, by supporting the independent shops and businesses that make Ireland unique, we are preserving an important aspect of our identity and culture.”
Shoppers are encouraged to check out locally produced goods and services and (and great bargains!) for Christmas on the Champion Green website Champion Green
Survey* Champion Green Consumer Research by iReachHQ; September 2021
