They say history repeats itself. And, for sure, America has seen the likes of this economic recession before. Your parents or grandparents might even have well-known stories about their experiences in past economic hardships (walking uphill both ways, etc.). But they’ve got nothing on what recently went down here in Milwaukee, WI. This ain’t your grandma’s recession.

Meyer & Wallis has been hard at work on an ad campaign and event for Milwaukee area retailers for several months. See, we realized that most of the dire economic news we’d hear about was happening elsewhere, yet was being presented as if it were happening everywhere. Bank closings in New York, foreclosures in California, unemployment in Detroit, etc. Maybe it isn’t as bad in Milwaukee, we thought. So we did some research, and sure enough: business IS better here.

So to make a long story short, a couple weeks ago, more than 250 local retailers gathered to hear speakers from across the country talk to them about how to market in this down economy using every media at their disposal. We had a doctor of consumer psychology, the mayor and county executive of Milwauke, representatives from Meyer & Wallis, and speakers from each of the major media bureaus. As far as we know, they’d never been gathered together for one event before. Ever. The day was jam-packed with insight and information designed to help area retailers stay afloat and weather this economy, coming out stronger on the other side.

But in addition to the great speakers, we unveiled an ad campaign we’ve been working on for some time, designed to instill confidence and optimism in Milwaukee consumers. Because, after all, business is better here!

So here’s one of the ads we did for this campaign. I’ll be unveiling more as the days go by. But be sure to also check out the website at businessisbetterhere.net