Bristol Makes Final Five In ‘Small Business Revolution’ Competition

Small Business Revolution – Main Street | Bristol Borough, PA | Finalist from Small Business Revolution on Vimeo.

The final five small towns in competition for Deluxe Corporation’s Small Business Revolution $500,000 have been set, and Bristol Borough is firmly in the running.

The announcement was made live onto Facebook Thursday at 7 a.m. by Small Business Revolution TV show hosts Amanda Brinkman and investor Robert Herjavec of “Shark Tank” fame.

Bristol is competing against Georgetown, South Carolina; Kingsburg, California; North Adams, Massachusetts; and Red Wing, Minnesota.

If the borough wins the money, the $500,000 grant will be put toward growing the small business community and marketing the town. Bristol would also get a nice boost from the exposure of being featured on the “Small Business Revolution” TV series which airs on Hulu.

The campaign to get Bristol into the final five began with the announcement that the borough had made the final eight in November. Since then, a film crew has been out to talk with the business owners and residents for the video that debuted Thursday. The enthusiasm of the town, in addition to what they saw when they came, is believed to be the determining factor of the final four.

In all measurable metrics, Bristol’s numbers – made up of views on a video from the film crew visit and number of hashtags employed – doubled the next closest town on the list. Looking there, the inclusion of the riverfront isn’t so surprising.

“I think we demonstrated the spirit of the people here,” said Bill Pezza, president of Bristol Borough: Raising the Bar and the chief strategist for the Small Business Revolution campaign.

Leading up to the visit from the film crew, the town engaged in a huge “pick us” campaign. Residents and business people made videos imploring the Small Business Revolution team to pick the town. In addition, businesses along the main corridor placing signs in windows in an attempt to persuade the visitors.

The next leg of the journey is more involved from the community standpoint. The borough needs votes from inside and outside of the immediate community.

Herjavec said Thursday morning that he believes the winning town will need more than 100,000 votes.

“The networks have been tremendous, and we will be able to deliver a ton of votes,” Pezza said. The networks Pezza refers to stretch well beyond the geographical borders of the borough. Other municipalities such as Falls Township and Middletown Township have given vocal support, as have various institutions such as the Bristol Borough Business Association, Lower Bucks Chamber of Commerce and St. Mary Medical Center, Lower Bucks Hospital and Bucks County Community College.

The campaign to get votes began well before the town received formal confirmation of their place in the final five. Over the past few weeks, volunteers and Pezza have been getting the word out, putting together signs and tabletop notices along with internet posts and short videos.

“We had to assume we were going to make it so that we didn’t lose any time in voting,” he said.

From here, the biggest challenge will be keeping the pressure up. Voters can vote once a day from each browser on each device. This means that if a person has a phone, a tablet and a computer, they can vote from each internet browser on each device once every day.

“We need to keep playing like there are two minutes left and we’re tied,” Pezza said.

Voting goes from Thursday, February 9 through Thursday, February 16, and you can vote at smallbusinessrevolution.org.

“Let the games begin,” Herjavec declared once voting opened.