ROCKLAND, MA AND ALEXANDRIA, VA, ISSUED AUGUST 31, 2022… The South Shore Chamber of Commerce has been named one of three Communications Excellence Best In Show winners by ACCE, the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. ACCE is the leading national association for chambers of commerce and economic development organizations representing over 1,600 members, and more than 9,000 industry professionals.

The South Shore Chamber of Commerce initially won the 2022 Award for Communication Excellence for “Overall Best Campaign” for their Hello! South Shore campaign. Hello! South Shore is a regional destination marketing campaign that was created and designed to assist the regional recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19. After receiving a Regional Pilot Project Grant through the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, the Chamber partnered with local towns, businesses, and organizations to create a series of excursions that ran throughout the summer. The excursions were designed to spotlight arts, culture, history, outdoors, food, shops, recreation, holiday events, farmers’ markets, and neighborhoods across the South Shore. 

The campaign was the first to formally promote the South Shore region. It’s companion website www.hellosouthshore.com encouraged 600,000+ residents to think of “local” as more than their own neighborhood or town and promoted broader exploration. This was accomplished through an exciting and robust marketing campaign—launched in less than six weeks— spotlighting discovery and the many excursions across the 25 cities and towns the chamber represents. The Chamber enlisted local business members for campaign creation including logo and creative development as well as media placement. The campaign launch spanned three months during the summer of 2021 with 125 unique communications produced and delivered through email, radio, social media, billboard, magazine, and other forms of media. The website, www.hellowsouthshore.com, is still very much the hub for all the excursions and places to visit in the region. 

As a result of this groundbreaking campaign for the South Shore Chamber, Hello! South Shore reached nearly a million impressions in just 13 weeks. The project also provided countless local businesses, organizations, and events the much-needed support they deserve as they recover from operational losses due to the pandemic.

The Best In Show Award was announced live at the ACCE Annual Convention held July 27 in Indianapolis. The Hello! South Shore campaign competed against major metro chambers and regional chambers in 3 other award categories including Digital Media, Website, Print & Electronic Publications. 

“Effective communications and storytelling are crucial to supporting a chamber’s mission and showcasing its impact,” said ACCE President & CEO Sheree Anne Kelly. “The South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s innovative efforts to help drive engagement and make a difference in the region it serves are inspiring and very deserving of this recognition.”

“Looking ahead and beyond recovery, the Hello! South Shore project is directly linked to our larger economic and community development goals as part of the South Shore 2030 Plan,” explained Peter Forman, president & CEO of the 121-year-old chamber. “If you’re thinking about a campaign to brand your region, think local. Marketing the assets of your community to outsiders falls flat if the local businesses and residents don’t recognize and value those assets first.”

A panel of communications and marketing professionals from ten U.S.-based chambers of commerce evaluated entries submitted for this year’s competition. Entries were organized by category — based on the chamber’s annual revenue. Judges presented 13 Awards of Excellence and three Best in Show awards.

About the South Shore Chamber of Commerce
The South Shore Chamber of Commerce is the largest, not-for-profit business organization in the region and holds a 5-Star Accreditation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Funded by members and partner businesses for over 120 years, our mission is to cultivate a stronger South Shore economy by encouraging a robust and diverse business climate; and by supporting the local members and communities we represent.  We know when businesses succeed, our communities succeed. To learn more, please visit www.southshorechamber.org or call 781-421-3900.

About the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives
Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) is the professional society supporting the people who lead local, regional, statewide, and international chambers of commerce and related business and economic development organizations. Our membership includes more than 1,600 business/civic organizations worldwide. We provide our members with information resources, thought leadership, education programs, original research, benchmarking, retirement security, and access to a network of peers. For information, visit www.acce.org.

DOWNLOAD Presentation: Ashley Lane, Perry CRE
DOWNLOAD Presentation: Patrick Andrews, Break Rock Brewing Co.
DOWNLOAD Presentation: David Gilmore, Kingston Collection
DOWNLOAD Presentation: Ed Callahan & Lisa Berardinelli, Hanover Crossing
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READ South of Boston Spotlight (NEREJ)
READ The Patriot Ledger coverage of Session 1
READ The Patriot Ledger coverage of Session 1

​​This work would not be possible without our Funders – thank you to Rockland Trust Bank, Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Cape Cod Lumber, Fireking Baking Company & Sullivan Tire for your continued support of our Housing Initiative. ​​We welcome the opportunity to speak with you further about our 2030 work and ways to get involved and engaged. Please contact Courtney Bjorgaard at cbjorgaard@southshorechamber.org to learn more. ​

Housing Choice Initiative Announcement (December 2017) including comments from Chamber President & CEO, Peter Forman. 

​This work would not be possible without our Funders – thank you to Rockland Trust Bank, Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Cape Cod Lumber, Fireking Baking Company & Sullivan Tire for your continued support of our Housing Initiative. ​​We welcome the opportunity to speak with you further about our 2030 work and ways to get involved and engaged. Please contact Courtney Bjorgaard at cbjorgaard@southshorechamber.org to learn more. ​

(Photos courtesy of Elisif Photography)

Mr. Mark Melnick of The Donahue Institute spoke at the South Shore Chamber's Economic Outlook breakfast co-sponsored with Envision Bank.  We are pleased to share his presentation which included some nice comparisons on how the South Shore stacks up with the rest of the state on key economic factors.   It validated some of our work on South Shore 2030 to make the region economically stronger.  We were particularly impressed with three slides:

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1. Slide 9  shows we are 1/3  below (less competitive) the state’s concentrations of jobs in the high talent/high salaried Professional and Technical service industry mix but more concentrated than the state’s overall share in the financial services (by almost 70%) and retail  (by 30%) sectors. That illustrates one of the underlying challenge facing the South Shore.  Some of our largest job sectors are in contracting industries that are shedding jobs while at the same time we have a smaller share of some key sectors that are growing and have higher paying jobs. Our challenge becomes how do we expand and attract the growth sectors.  We believe we do it by growing the talent and workforce available on the South Shore.
2. Slide 22 compares the percentage of family income going to housing. That has declined for homeowners since the recession but has stayed high for apartment owners.  The percentage of course depends on two factors:  household incomes and the cost of the housing. Overall we believe this supports our housing agenda. It suggests we are not building enough of the housing product (multi-family such as apartments) that young professionals are looking for.  That keeps apartment rents too high for many younger people. That in turn limits our ability to grow the workforce.   
3. Finally, slide  27 nicely captures our transportation and economic challenge.  (This compares the middle section of the South Shore). We have 1/3 more residents commuting out of the area for jobs than workers coming in from other regions.  This reinforces information from our Original 2030 study that the entire South Shore has more people leaving the area for jobs than coming in for jobs.   And most of our traffic heads North to or through Boston.  While we continue to work on the Boston commute for our residents the better solution to the transportation problem is creating more jobs in the region so residents have better employment choices than driving to Boston.