Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Buy GREEK for Christmas This Year Campaign! Let's ALL Buy GREEK!


Buy Greek for Christmas...
Share the page - Share the passion - share the thought! 
 it doesn't have to be big, a chocolate, a card, a book is fine...
just make sure it is Greek!

All those who have been following our blog and our Global Greek World Facebook Page know it as a blog which is for and about Greeks all over the world.

Global Greek World, or GGW as most of us call it, aims at bringing Greeks together, while promoting the best and brightest that Greece has to offer at home and abroad, uniting them all under the Global Greek World umbrella. 

Let's not forget that each and every Greek, wherever he or she is in the world, is a walking, talking and sometimes even singing Ambassador for Greece. We need to harness and project the enormous potential this dynamic gives us as much as we can for Greece's benefit, especially today.

One of our traditional Greek sayings goes... Άν δεν παινέψεις το σπίτι σου θα πέσει να σε πλακώσει.... if you don't praise your home it will fall and crush you... what else is Greece but our collective home and one of the most beautiful in the world! 

If only we knew how blessed we are!

Greece has so much to offer - at every level. Greek products are world class in many sectors yet, until recently, Greece has never really promoted them as such.

Take our excellent, top of the tops, pure, extra-virgin olive oil, or Greek Yoghurt, as examples of products which have taken off with just a little work...ultimately they sell themselves because their quality is so good.

The concept of Buy GREEK was something I was thinking of for a while as a way to make people aware of the significance of supporting Greece's 'producers' as a move away from the crazy and indiscriminate consumerism of all things imported that has prevailed in the last few years in Greece. I had already done the necessary back office work, the domain, the email and the Buy GREEK page but I was working on the direction it should take...  

However life has a way of taking over one's plans: Christmas and a question from a friend on facebook actually acted as a catalyst to get it going earlier than planned...so voila, the Buy GREEK for Christmas This Year Campaign event was launched at the end of November...


We see Buy GREEK as

a)  a movement which will make people at home and abroad show their confidence in all things Greek similar to the O ΕΠΙΜΕΝΩN ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ movement of the 80's

b) a 'meeting place' for Greek producers and consumers in Greece and around the world,

c) a way to provide a shot in the arm for all products and services which are also part of a much bigger picture -  the image Greece presents to the world - Brand Greece if you like, a brand which has taken a lot of  knocks in the last few years and which needs to be rebuilt, yesterday!!!

d) a generic term that refers to all the things available in Greece  - from physical products to Greece's rich and unique cultural heritage, and everything in between, on land or sea... the sky's the limit when it comes to showcasing the best!

There hasn't been any contact with any of the producers or the companies either 'liked' on the page or as direct links as yet, but that will come as we develop our strategy ... right now we are happy for people to post suggestions for Greek products, which as you can see they are doing, both on the actual page and on the event.

Buy GREEK is a concept which ultimately can be applied to all Greek products, businesses and services all over the world. We are thrilled to see that people themselves are not restricting it to Greek in the geographical sense and are including the diaspora Greek businesses which promote Greek products and services as well. 


The feedback so far has been very positive, but confirmation that it is a good idea and one that everybody will try to embrace will come with an increase in 'likes' or attendance for the Buy Greek for Christmas event itself, so please get 'like-ing'! 

There's been a great response following publication of the article by Nelly Abravanel in Kathimerini tis Kyriakis and on Skai as well as the English edition of Kathimerini - a much appreciated gesture, and a big thank you to Nelly for getting in touch!

 

You can read Nelly's article in Greek  - on Skai or in the Kathimerini  or in English in the English Edition Kathimerini.

As a result of that interview, the number of guests for the event are multiplying fast as are the 'likes' on the Buy GREEK page. Not bad at all, but we would love it to go viral of course! Ιf we can get those numbers high it means that we increase people's awareness of Greek products and services and show them that it is quite easy to Buy GREEK, wherever we may be.

Along with all the rest of our diaspora Greeks, I grew up and studied abroad, very much involved in all things Greek in our small Greek Community, bridging and bringing together the two worlds I belonged to.  Now living, working and raising a family in Greece, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of one of the best things Greece did in the course of her modern history - Athens' Magic Olympic Games - ATHENS 2004!







The amazing things Greece was able to show the world during those unforgettable days in August of 2004 was a result of the fact that as a nation, both at home and abroad, WE worked together as ONE, united and focused on the noble cause - the homecoming of the Olympic Games,  one of Greece's many legacies to the world. 

Unfortunately our political leaders didn't take the golden opportunity that presented itself after Athens' magical Olympics and they didn't run with it at all. Quite the opposite in fact...

The often undeserved battering Greece has had on the world stage because of the economic crisis has helped many people take a good long look at what has gone wrong in Greece. 

We now need to get to work again and fix it all for the good of Greece and the future generations. 

We need to start working for the common good again rather than just that of our immediate circle... and Buy GREEK is an initiative in that direction. 

We need YOUR  help to get the news of this initiative out there. 

We need to make people passionate about the cause. 

Share the page - Share the passion - share the thought! Buy Greek for Christmas... it doesn't have to be big, a chocolate, a card, a book is fine...just make sure it is Greek!

If you love Greece, it's simple...

Buy GREEK!


Join us 

On Facebook: Buy GREEK for Christmas This Year 3rd Annual Campaign 2013
                     Buy GREEK 
                     Global Greek World

On Twitter:   Buy GREEK 
                   Global Greek World

PS  Just found out that the Dutch central bank has given its 2,000 staff a Greek hamper this Christmas, containing cheese, olives, wine, a travel guide and a book about Greek myths...  so...Let's start a trend! 

If the Dutch Central Bank can do it so can WE, wherever we are in the world!
 

GREEK Christmas Hampers for all! 

 Buy GREEK!

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