Good afternoon, 

You may have seen in the Press & Journal and Evening Express today coverage of the launch of a new initiative for Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire that seeks to help make it easy for people to play a part in stimulating our regional economy as we recover from the impact of the coronavirus.

www.northeastnow.scot seeks to rebuild consumer confidence and demand by pulling together lots of great information into one central place to make it simple for people to play a part and support local.

The hub provides information on which local products are available in shops and supermarkets, making choosing North-east brands in your weekly shop really simple. It also includes sections on local businesses and those promoting local provenance operating across the food and drink, retail, wellbeing, lifestyle, fashion and beauty sectors and more. The site links to a wide range of directories, news articles, blogs and inspirational stories from across the area and aims to encourage people to think about other ways they can support local, including days out and staycations.

The hub is designed to signpost people to existing resources, not compete with them. There are lots of fantastic small cooperatives and community initiatives happening across the area but they might not be able to get their message out as far and wide as they would like. North East Now will amplify their voice and give them a platform to engage, promote and talk about what they’re doing while making it easy for local residents to know what’s out there and how they can help.

Our ask

Kick-starting our regional economy is something which ultimately benefits us all. Your organisation is either connected with a wide range of businesses which could benefit from engaging with North East Now in a number of ways, or with the general community. Our ask is that you share details of North East Now with your network and encourage businesses to promote themselves by letting people know they are open for business, or encourage ‘consumers’ to use the resource and support local.

This Thursday will see us run a ‘power hour’ on social media from 12-1pm, backed by the P&J, Evening Express, Society and Original 106. This is a great opportunity for the community to come together and for individual businesses to gain some exposure.

Attached is a toolkit that contains the logo, a short descriptor, the social media handles and hashtags; and a supporting graphic for each of the platforms and audiences to help get the word out, as well as instructions on taking part in the power hour.

Further details on the power hour can also be found here: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/2276888/north-east-now-how-you-can-take-part-in-our-power-hour/ but, if you can’t share information ahead of this event, please do still share it with any relevant contacts as there’s still other opportunities via the hub for local businesses to get their brand out there in the weeks and months ahead.

The goal is to help make our region thrive. We would be very grateful for any support you can give to achieve this.

Russell Borthwick

Chief Executive 

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce

T 01224 343911

M 07785 332876

E russell.borthwick@agcc.co.uk