Publisher's Notebook
Our Economic Challenge
T
Arthur M.
Horwitz
Publisher
hey are our friends and neigh-
bors.
Maybe we went to school
or camp with them. Maybe, they are
members of our family. We certainly
know them by name, and they know our
name, too.
They are part of the economic back-
bone of the region and the Detroit
Jewish commuility. They are providers
of goods and services as diverse as
furniture, lettuce, jewelry, home-cooked
meals, financial planning and furnace
we're going to buy from them anyway.
Reader studies consistently show that advertising is one
of the best-read parts of the Jewish News, right up there with
obituaries!
In part, this is because advertising in the Jewish News is also
local news ... who is being honored by what organization, which
friend is having a trunk show, which neighbor is giving a free
dessert with dinner. In the print media industry, the amount of
space available for editorial content is correlated to the quan-
tity of advertising. As more local providers of goods and ser-
vices close or scale back their operations, there is less advertis-
ing in the Jewish News and, therefore, less editorial content.
While perhaps one-third less than 10 years ago, the "news
hole" in the Jewish News is still one of the largest of any Jewish
or ethnic publication in the country. And according to the 2005
Detroit Jewish Community Study, the Jewish News continues to
be the common thread that links Detroit's Jewish community,
touching almost 23,000 of its 30,000 households.
Starting with this issue of the Jewish News, we will be
launching a campaign that encourages you to "buy local" and
introduces you to some of your friends, neighbors and fam-
ily who appreciate the results they get from the Jewish News
— thanks to your patronage. By expanding your support for
them and other locally owned businesses, you are also sup-
porting us in our mission to provide you, our valued readers,
with the quality and quantity of content you deserve in print
and at JNonline.us .
Remember, it only takes a small adjustment in our existing
purchasing habits to have a positive impact on the well being
of our friends, neighbors and families. We can make a differ-
ence, one Jewish News reader at a time, despite the troubling
economic trends. ❑
repairs.
Given the difficult economic challenges facing our region,
they all need more business.
And given this need, there is something we can do that will
make a difference: increase our purchases at locally owned
businesses.
I am making a clarion call to redirect some of our consump-
tion away from national concerns like Wal-Mart, TiffanyXand
Amazon, where the bottom line leaves our region. Just -ifivi
adjustments in our cumulative purchasing power can be the
difference between viability and insolvency for the people we
know and care about.
Let's do some arithmetic together. The 2005 Detroit Jewish
Community Demographic Study commissioned by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit pegged our Jewish commu-
nity's collective annual income at approximately $2.4
(30,000 households times $80,000 median annual income).
If we redirected just 5 percent of our incomes away from
the national chains, that would yield about $120 million in
additional annual sales for locally owned businesses. What's a
See the JN's "I Get It" buy-local campaign launch on page A24.
rounding error for the big guys becomes a significant infusion
of business for the local guys.
This tweak in our buying habits,
which we control, can be just as
powerful as the important safety-net
Boost Support For Locally
assistance provided by Federation
Owned Businesses
and its constituent agencies as well
as the United Way organizations
By Spending An
communitywide. While our gener-
Additional 5% Of Our
ous and caring community offers
income At Local
interest-free loans, foreclosure assis-
Businesses =
tance and job retraining, our added
emphasis on "buying local" can
$120 Million Back
keep many of our Jewish and gentile
Into Our
friends, neighbors and family from
Community
the sometimes humiliating need to
seek help at all.
And there is a unique interdepen-
dency between local businesspeople
and another local business — our
Jewish News. About 90 percent of
our advertising revenue comes from
locally and regionally owned busi-
nesses and nonprofit organizations.
Consistently, national chains
Detroit Jewish Community's
choose not to advertise with us,
Colleci tive Annual income =
believing they don't need any par-
$2.4 Billion
ticular relationship with our Jewish
Buy Local
community. Their attitude is ...
1
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DOWNTO\Aa :IMF' 1ING HAM
248, 1)01 t ' 12
SUND 12-5
MONDAY SATURDAY 10 - 6
-
THURSDAY 10-9
Source: 2005 Detroit Jewish Community Demographic Study
www.te nderbirmingham.com
February 7 2008
A5