Community Supports Business. Repeat.
Carrotmob
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Crowdsourcing
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Local Business
Last night Seattle Greendrinks put on its first Local Green Stimulus Package, an attempt to help a struggling local business that has given significant support to the Seattle Greendrinks community. In essence, the idea was to connect the community with the space: get people in there, and let the quality of the venue, the food, and the vibe do the selling.
The venue in this case was a restaurant full of recycled materials, serving organic foods & drinks, etc. They’re a restaurant that opened in November, 2008, just as the country’s economy was tanking. To survive, they need a crowd, a customer base, people to know – and care – that they exist. Helping establish that crowd was our goal.
It worked.
Pizza Fusion was mobbed; they couldn’t hold us all, and had a 45 minute wait for a while. I overheard and directly had conversations with numerous people who explained about how great the venue, the pizza, the beer, and the vibe were. Kevin, the amiable owner, told me that it may have been their busiest night since opening in November.
Whether it’ll enable them to stay in business long-term is yet to be determined, of course. But it was a beginning.
The idea sprang from thinking I’ve been doing about how to actualize crowds to benefit good things. At the base of the thought process: Carrotmob and Crowdsourcing. We will continue to explore these ideas, as Seattle Greendrinks will soon be producing Seattle’s first all-out Carrotmob at the Pike Pub. The Pike has committed to take 25% of their revenues on Earth Day – 22 April – and put them back into the restaurant in the form of energy retrofits, operable windows (to reduce their air conditioner use), etc.
I’m excited to see how the community can work together to help foster significant change by doing things they might’ve done anyway, like grabbing a pint. Think of all the other businesses, as well as other community organizations, who could be helped through the power of crowds…
Similar Posts:
- Crowdsourced Business Models
- Reflecting on the Launch of Our New Website
- Greendrinks: A Study In Reliability
