The Central Alberta Economic Partnership has unveiled its latest effort to promote the region to the world.
During a presentation at the Red Deer Lodge on Thursday, Al Kemmere, CAEP chair and Mountain View County reeve, said the alliance is venturing into video marketing after relying on print and web efforts for the past 12 years.
“This is new step for us but we’re trying to capture the modern day technology,” Kemmere said. “I find this exciting and it’s just another step to make Central Alberta out there for the world to see.”
The project was initiated last summer and iMediaTV, a Red Deer video production company, was commissioned to spend the past year capturing the essence of each member community located within the four corners of Central Alberta.
Thursday marked the launch of 43 community-specific investment attraction videos that Kemmere said will help local counties, villages, towns and cities boost economic development by promoting the benefits the region has to offer.
“It gives you sort of a real picture of what’s happening in the area that you want to present, instead of just putting it into words and describing it,” said Harvey Walsh, chair of CAEP’s marketing and communications committee that led the project.
“It tells the story of Central Alberta, the diversity of Central Alberta. It’s designed to showcase the best of each community.”
Walsh said producing the videos was a low-cost way to utilize Internet-based marketing. He said the average cost to create each feature was about $1,600.
Rene Rondeau, owner of iMediaTV, said his team of five worked with every municipality to create a visual showcase that explores three areas of priority: quality of life, investment attraction and labour attraction.
The short videos feature local people, places and opportunities through snippets about recreation, construction, agriculture, amenities, events, landscapes and streetscapes.
“I’m confident it will expose the region and give people another reason to come and see Central Alberta,” Kemmere said. “I think it will be a great opportunity to expose Central Alberta to the world.”
All 43 videos are being hosted on the CAEP website and can be viewed at www.centralalberta.ab.ca/caep_tv.html
Walsh said municipalities can use the footage at trade shows, in local facilities, to email to interested prospects and on networking sites like YouTube to promote Central Alberta.
CAEP and its members collaborated to sponsor the video project.
ptrotter@www.reddeeradvocate.com