MOUNT GREENWOOD — A coalition of groups dedicated to supporting the business community throughout the 19th Ward are asking area residents to "Live19."
While it might sound like an opportunity to revisit your late teenage years, Live19 is actually a marketing push asking residents of Beverly, Mount Greenwood and northwest Morgan Park to shop local.
"It's really just trying to remind people that we have a lot to offer here," said Caroline Connors, executive director of the Morgan Park Beverly Hills Business Association. She introduced the Live19 effort at a business breakfast Thursday at Barraco's in Mount Greenwood.
Connors worked in partnership with leaders from the Beverly Area Planning Association, Mount Greenwood Community and Business Association and the 95th Street Beverly Hills Business Association on the combined marketing strategy.
"This is an attempt to come together and brand our neighborhood," said Margot Burke Holland, executive director of association commonly known as BAPA.
The Live19 Facebook page went live Thursday. The online platform offers local business owners an opportunity to showcase their companies using five distinct categories: #Live19, #Shop19, #Play19, #Dine19 and #Biz19.
Using these hashtags, businesses can advertise special deals, promote products or services, introduce new employees and more, said Mary Gill, executive director of the Mount Greenwood association.
For example, a local restaurant could advertise a special dish on the Live19 Facebook site under the hashtag #Dine19. Likewise, a local clothier could advertise a new fashion line using #Shop19, Gill said.
"I think once it catches on, the neighborhood will really like this page," said Gill, adding that all posts have to be approved by an administrator and that comments are restricted.
The social media component is meant to replace the Deal of the Day promotion that surfaced around the holidays for the past several years to promote local businesses, Gill said.
The second part of the marketing program is the installation of street pole banners along Western Avenue from 99th-119th Streets, as well as in the 95th Street shopping district, said Erin Healy Ross of the 95th Street business group.
The banners will feature the Live19 logo and be installed in the spring. Organizers of the program hope the new shopping banners will mirror the excitement comes when the South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade banners appear along Western Avenue.
In some places, the Live19 banners will go up once the parade banners come down. The local shopping banners will then remain on display until they are replaced by Christmas decorations, Connors said.
Other shopping areas that do not have the banners will likewise show their support with posters and window stickers featuring the shared Live19 logo.
"I think (Live19) highlights a lot of the great businesses in Beverly and Morgan Park," Connors said.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
