I was wondering, farmers' markets have a powerful brand, in part due to the trust that farmers enjoy - they occupy the most trusted occupation, after firefighters and nurses. How can farmers' markets leverage their strong brand? While consulting with the Greenbelt Farmers Market Network I suggested the idea of creating a coupon or voucher, to Anne Freeman. These would be spent by customers at participating markets, and the redemption cost covered by sponsors. Anne thought it was worth pursuing, and now, for three consecutive years, TD Bank has been the sponsor of the TD Bank Farmers' Market Buck.
The buck has had many iterations, with individual markets creating their own market buck and soliciting local businesses to be a market buck sponsor using sponsor pitch material I created. Sponsors pay up front and sponsors' fees cover the cost of redeeming bucks presented by vendors. Because not all market bucks find their way back to the market - some get lost or laundered beyond recognition - this is profit for the market.
The idea behind this is to get farmers' markets to be more entrepreneurial.
The buck has had many iterations, with individual markets creating their own market buck and soliciting local businesses to be a market buck sponsor using sponsor pitch material I created. Sponsors pay up front and sponsors' fees cover the cost of redeeming bucks presented by vendors. Because not all market bucks find their way back to the market - some get lost or laundered beyond recognition - this is profit for the market.
The idea behind this is to get farmers' markets to be more entrepreneurial.
