It’s just over a week since the #ShopCardiff campaign ended, and I think everyone involved was extremely chuffed at how the idea caught the attention of retailers and – more importantly – local shoppers. In the end, the campaign, conceived by Arlein Media, the folk behind TweetCardiff, reached over 500,000 twitter accounts, was featured on BBC Radio Wales, ITV Wales, and covered in the local press, not to mention inspiring several posts on people’s experiences of shopping independently for a whole week, including these:
I was pretty taken aback by the enthusiasm for the #ShopCardiff challenge – and it has given me the push I need to do something which has been on my ‘one day’ list for a while – and that is to at least start the process of developing a local currency. There are a few local currencies in existence – the first and probably best known is the Totnes Pound, but there’s also the Brixton Pound, the Lewes Pound, the Stroud Pound and, most recently and just across the bridge, the Bristol Pound. I have been following the Bristol Pound for a while, and kept on thinking that I wished someone would do a similar thing here in Cardiff. Well, I’ve decided to stop wishing, and to get on with it!
I’ve chatted to a few people about this already, and there seems to be a real interest in taking it forward. Right now, the plan of action is to research what works well elsewhere, and put together a group of people who could potentially form a steering group. I’m also putting together a little surveymonkey, that I’ll be posting and pleading with you to fill in, probably in a couple of days…
In the meantime, I would be really grateful for any help people could throw my way. If anyone has direct experience of a local currency, I’d love to hear about it – the negatives as well as the positives. If you, or someone you know, would like to be involved, please give me a shout on email or @michelledavis – and if you don’t have time to be involved, but would support the idea of a local currency, please drop me a line too!
Thank you – looking forward to the day when we have our very own Cardiff Pound!
