Wednesday August 09, 2006

Pop quiz: what's that sign?

 

What is it? The first person who gets it right wins a free homebrew from yours truly.

OK,
now that I've got you hooked, more detail: in my spare time I've been
toying with an idea that could help locally-oriented companies better
promote themselves as primary ambassadors of a local region's goods.
And this is what the idea looks like. Guess away, or read for more info...

(Read no further if you'd rather guess.)

Like the man says, it's an idea. It needs refining. But I'm tired of  letting it sit there on my hard drive, revisiting it every six months, when ideas are meant to be shared.

So although there are plenty of holes in this idea, I'm letting it rip. Go:

+ + +

What is it?
A way to rank retailers in your city based on their overall local-ness. Retailers with a high score will display this sign in their window. And local-minded consumers will know where to shop.

It's half Best-of-Citysearch-plaque, half publicly-visible-Restaurant-Hygiene-Grade, yet it's all about identifying local businesses and supporting them.

Why would consumers care?
If you're concerned about the negative effects of globalization, then you're probably one of those types who prefer to buy locally-made products at locally-owned businesses when given the chance. This is a retail window-sign program that makes it easy for consumers to quickly and easily spot who's local and who's not.

If you're a particularly informed consumer and want to know yet more, each store gets a simple rating -- 1 through 9 -- which details exactly how well the ownership, employees and goods are rooted in the area. 9 is better, 1 is worse.

Why would retailers care?
Local retailers can always use another marketing tool in their arsenal to compete against the BigBoxCo's of the world. With this program, they can leverage a growing awareness among consumers who choose to buy regionally-made products or put their tax dollars back into the local economy.

It's a mark of authenticity that positions the most locally-focused retailers in the best possible light—and which puts companies with shameful employment and labor practices...well, to shame.

But really, what's the goal?
This program's main goal is to boost local economies. I figure there's no easier way to do this than to shine a bright light on star local businesses.

What makes for a good rating system?
Companies that have the majority of their goods, ownership and employees based locally will score higher. Companies score lower when each of these aspects are scattered farther away.

Who does the ranking, or distributes a sign?
Depends on the inherent utility of the concept (and obviously its execution). If it's valid, I imagine three possible scenarios:

1. Municipalities that value local businesses can assign the rankings and sell/license the window signs. Retailers would pay $X per year to keep their ranking up to date. Those with a high ranking would be the most likely ones to wear it as a badge in the window, just as with a good Citysearch review or a BBB seal of approval. Obviously the program would only be successful if there's perceived cache in the system; that can be driven through a Chamber of Commerce marketing program or some other city-funded program that promotes the system as well as its top performers.

2. Independent agencies or firms could sell these; verify the rankings; and market the program and its top performers.

3. Open it up. Let anyone have one for free. The key to this is self-policing, and that could be managed appropriately through the internet. With a strong online directory/community component, retailers who assign themselves a deceptively high rating would be scolded or blacklisted via user input.

Any other possibilities?
Sure. In addition to having a basic program that assigns rankings and gives stores a code, there are other ways this could be extended:

-- Develop an online and/or directory of top-scorers in each city.
-- Plug the content -- or badge, or ranking, into existing directories: Googlemaps, Citysearch, other online yellow pages and print yellow pages could easily include the Locality Index badge and ranking.
-- Embed an RFID tag or Bluetooth sensor to each sign; when the tag is tripped as people pass by, they would have the opportunity to read user-generated comments on a particular store using their cell phone or other mobile device.

+ + + So there you have it. It's out there forever, as it's meant to be. Got comments or ideas on making this better? Speak, before I forget about this again for another six months...