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City of Langford adds its support to Island Good program
January 2021 / By: Diana
Source: Douglas Magazine
By Amanda Wilson – January 12, 2021
The City of Langford has added its support to the Island Good program, which launched in 2018 as a place brand to help shoppers identify Vancouver Island made and produced goods and services. The City’s support means Langford businesses and producers can now join the program as a licensee at no charge, with a complimentary one year Island Good membership.
“More than ever, consumers are passionate about supporting local businesses,” says Mayor Young, City of Langford. “However, due to certain barriers to entry, local businesses and locally made products aren’t always the most accessible or easy to identify. Island Good provides an amplified voice to those local businesses and offers a guarantee to consumers that what they are getting is authentically Island made. Langford partnering with this program extends the I AM Langford campaign’s efforts, which has proven to be successful at bringing awareness to the Langford business community.”
An annual Island Good membership provides local businesses with promotion on the Island Good website and social media pages, as well as other unique promotional opportunities including use of the Island Good logo to promote products and raise consumer awareness of the Island-made products they carry.
Island Good was founded by the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance (VIEA) when they learned that shoppers want to buy local, but didn’t always have a way to identify locally made goods at the grocery store. The results of a pilot program in Spring of 2018 showed that once branded as local, sales of Island made products saw an average 16% lift.
On the Island Good website, VIEA points to research conducted by BC Buy Local, showing for every $100 spent with a local business, $63 is re-circulated back into the BC economy. VIEA says every one percent increase in sales of local products equals 50 jobs.
The City of Langford joins other organizations, like Economic Development Cowichan, Community Futures and City of Campbell River Economic Development who’ve stepped forward to enable local businesses and producers to take advantage of the program.
Businesses that produce products in Langford or Langford based businesses that sell products made in the Vancouver Island/Gulf Islands region could qualify for this free licensing opportunity, which is available on a first-come, first-served basis. To apply, fill out the form at https://islandgood.ca/become-a-licensee/
Photo by Amanda Wilson. Representatives from Phillips Brewery and Portofino Bakery at the Island Good program launch in 2018.