The Office of Economic Development’s Only in Seattle initiative will expand to include Queen Anne and six other neighborhoods, Mayor McGinn announced last Wednesday.
The program is receiving an additional $40,000 from the City of Seattle as part of the Seattle Jobs Plan’s $1 million investment in neighborhood business districts, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. In addition to Queen Anne, Belltown, Capitol Hill, Greenwood-Phinney, Madison Valley, South Lake Union and the University District will be included in the initiative.
The initiative “highlights the hidden gems of shopping and dining in Seattle’s neighborhoods” with a website and online, print and transit advertising.
From the Office of Economic Development’s original press release on the Only in Seattle initiative:
Inspired by the “buy local” movement, the city’s Office of Economic Development (OED) worked with local business owners and neighborhood leaders to develop a campaign that would inspire people to discover and explore new neighborhoods and businesses that make up Seattle’s diverse retail community… The Office of Economic Development promotes a healthy business environment for neighborhood business districts and business organizations, and works to help grow and strengthen the business community in Seattle neighborhoods. The Only in Seattle campaign is only one of numerous OED-funded projects and activities that improve business districts.
“It’s an opportunity to showcase all of [Queen Anne businesses’] unique offerings not only to Queen Anne residents and other business employees in the area, but to people who live outside of the area whether they’re coming into the area as tourists or from the greater Seattle area,” said Director of Marketing for the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce Mary Chapman. “What we would really like to capitalize on is getting people to frequent our businesses regularly, not just come in on a one-time thing because you randomly found it, but purposely knowing what businesses are available in Queen Anne and coming to shop there frequently.”
In anticipation of the 2011 Only in Seattle marketing campaign’s expansion, the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce applied to add Queen Anne into the program.
“It was through the collaboration that we already had with the Department of the Economic Development that we filled out the paperwork and were accepted, so we’re extremely happy about that,” said Chapman, adding, “Involvement with the chamber means that we can go out and act on [Queen Anne businesses’] behalf both in terms of getting city dollars spent in our neighborhood and in terms of doing more public relations outreach in helping people in our community know about their businesses.”
She said that all of the new neighborhoods to be included in the 2011 campaign are going to receive contacts within the next month to get the research started for the marketing campaign. In the coming weeks the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce will begin the data collection for the Only in Seattle marketing team.
The Only in Seattle marketing campaign began in November of 2010 with five Seattle neighborhoods: Ballard, Columbia City, Georgetown, Rainier Valley and West Seattle. The Seattle Jobs Plan was launched in August 2010 to encourage sustainable development and shared prosperity in the region.