Make It Main Street

The Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB) has launched the next phase of the Make It Main Street consumer marketing campaign to promote small, local businesses in Montgomery County, PA.

This round has a renewed focus on the importance of shopping local, what it means to be part of a community, and a few “firsts” for the organization: a video translated into Spanish, and YouTube and OTT (Over-The-Top like Roku devices, or Apple TV) advertising.

Businesses spotlighted include: bakeries, breweries (representing 30 award-winning Montco Makers), and retail stores to hotels (representing 80 properties), golf courses (representing 50 clubs) and arts and culture venues (representing 200 facilities).

The VFTCB has once again partnered with Montgomery County and the Commerce Department on the project, which is being funding by the county through CARES Act monies (this time $400,000).

Working with 20/20 Visual Media for a second time, the VFTCB filmed 12 one-minute “Meet the Business Owner” vignettes across 11 towns throughout the county.

The call to action in the videos continues to send traffic to the webpage (https://www.valleyforge.org/make-it-main-street/), and the free Visit Valley Forge mobile app, where people can learn more on how to “Make It Local, Make It Main Street, Make It Montco.”

The Main Street campaign draws attention to the hundreds of local, family-owned businesses across Montco’s dozens of small, quaint downtowns with the goal of driving consumer behavior to invigorate economic impact – and jobs – for the region.

The media strategy, which will run until the end of May, includes a partnership with NBC10 and Telemundo 62 where the VFTCB’s 30-second Main Street commercial will air during programming like the Today Show, and local news. The partnership allows for a couple of “firsts” for the organization including the first time a VFTCB television commercial has been translated into Spanish, as well as appearing on OTT to directly target consumers.