August 27, 2015
People who do their shopping in Nanango between October and December this year will be able to treat their family or friends to free rides, food and drinks on New Year’s Eve.
The Nanango Funfest Committee – in conjunction with Nanango’s Heritage Community Branch, Nanango IGA and Nanango businesses – will be giving shoppers “Mardi Gras Dollars” for 13 weeks from the start of October.
Come New Year’s Eve, they can be exchanged for free food, drinks and carnival rides at the family-oriented Heritage New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras being held at the Nanango Showgrounds.
However shoppers who can’t make it to the New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras themselves haven’t been overlooked, and will have several other attractive options open to them.
One option will be to exchange their Mardi Gras Dollars for tickets in a big Mardi Gras Raffle offering three major prizes worth $1000 – a flat screen TV, a $1000 holiday or $1000 in vouchers which can later be exchanged for goods or services.
Another is to donate their Mardi Gras dollars to local community organisations who can pass them on to disadvantaged families so they can enjoy the New Year’s Eve party at no cost, too.
And a third is to give the Mardi Gras Dollars to friends, family or workmates to help them towards their own New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras fun.
The ideas behind the Mardi Gras Dollars promotion were outlined to a group of around 30 Nanango traders on Tuesday night at a meeting convened in the Nanango Cultural Centre by Graham Archdall, from the Burnett Business Centre, and Jon Fearnley from Nanango Veterinary Surgery.
Jon explained the concept was based on a very successful promotion originally developed by Nanango’s former Apex Club more than 25 years ago.
“Earlier this year, several of us started talking about ways to give our town a real boost,” Jon said.
“With the Nanango Mardi Gras taking on a new look this year, tying this promotion to it seemed like a great idea because it allows local businesses to give their customers a tangible reward for shopping locally, and right at the time of year when they will get the most enjoyment out of it.”
Jon said the idea was very simple.
Participating businesses will display posters in their shop windows announcing that they will give away Mardi Gras dollars.
Shoppers will be given Mardi Gras Dollars on a roughly dollar-for-dollar basis when they get their receipt.
“We only have two denominations – $20 and $100 – so there’ll be a bit of flexibility in this,” Jon said.
“But the idea is that if a customer comes into your shop and spends $140 with you, then they’ll leave with $140 in Mardi Gras Dollars.”
Graham Archdall said the organising committee estimated $5000 in Mardi Gras Dollars would be enough to ensure a family of four had “a really great night out” at the Mardi Gras, and this was quite achievable if the family did most of their shopping in Nanango over the 13 weeks of the promotion.
Many of Nanango’s largest businesses had already embraced the concept, he said.
“But really, it’s in everyone’s interest that we get as many people on board as possible.”
Graham said Nanango’s proximity to Kingaroy meant the town had been losing a proportion of its business to its northern neighbour for a long time.
So one of the key ideas behind Mardi Gras Dollars was to reward shopping locally and restore the habit.
“Kingaroy has some businesses which have a low-cost business model, such as Aldi, and you can’t blame people for being attracted to that,” Graham said.
“But if people buy their groceries in Kingaroy, then they’ll probably buy some other things they could get just as easily for the same price here. And offering your customers Mardi Gras Dollars is an incentive to get them to do just that.”
Cr Barry Green said he thought the idea was excellent and long overdue.
“I think the one thing Nanango does better than any other South Burnett town is promotions,” Cr Green said.
“Many years ago we used to have a New Year’s Eve dance in Taras Hall that was absolutely huge, and it got that way because of the way it was promoted.
“That dance is gone now because the organisers retired and no one stepped in to take their place. But this idea is good for everybody – businesses, shoppers and the Nanango Mardi Gras – and it’s something we can really excel at.”
Graham said that Nanango businesses who’d like to get involved in the Mardi Gras Dollars promotion can do so for $8 to $77 per week, depending on the amount of Mardi Gras Dollars they estimate they’ll be giving away to customers.
However, if they under or over-estimate, they can easily upgrade or downgrade to a level that fits their individual circumstances.
Businesses will need to sign up by September 21, and the first Mardi Gras Dollars will be delivered on September 28.
- More details and application forms to join the Mardi Gras Dollars promotion can be obtained from Jon Fearnley on (07) 4163-1611 or Graham Archdall on (07) 4163-6400, or by emailing them.
[Published previously as “Nanango Kicking Off Shop Local Promotion”]
