Stony Plain’s Community Profile: Illuminating Opportunities in a Vibrant Community
Stony Plain’s Community Profile intends to inform and inspire businesses considering investing in the municipality. Filled with economic data, statistics, and key messaging, the Community Profile was designed to be vibrant, stand out on recipients’ desks, and act as a resource they could revisit for reference and renewal of their energy for the opportunity. The Community Profile is shaped by Stony Plain’s economic development branding, Reimagine Stony Plain, which was developed in unison with the publication and intends to reset people’s previous perceptions of Stony Plan’s economic development scene. Stony Plain’s Community Profile aims to assist the municipality’s economic development team in setting the stage for business development and painting a vibrant and inspiring picture of the community while establishing its position as a competitive option in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region (EMR).
Stony Plain is one of the smaller of the 21 municipalities that make up the EMR. As Canada’s fastest-growing region, the EMR is a competitive environment for investment attraction. Standing out among significantly larger municipalities with world-class business ecosystems is Stony Plain’s most significant challenge and the leading force behind developing its Community Profile. Bold decisions were considered at every turn of the project. Stony Plain tackled its challenge by establishing a confident and strategic tone, bright and visually engaging graphics, and creative promotional tactics, all rooted in establishing positive connections and experiences.
Stony Plain’s Community Profile launched in early 2023, along with a new investment attraction microsite, a suite of marketing collateral, and a general awareness digital campaign. At a high level, the target audience for the Community Profile is the community’s target sector leaders, developers, home builders, real estate agents, peer organizations, and prospective businesses – the movers and shakers that make deals happen. When it launched, Stony Plain’s economic development team wanted to make a big splash and do something unprecedented. The team sourced over ten locally-made goods to create vibrant made-in-Stony-Plain boxes with the Community Profile front and centre that were delivered to dozens of members of the community’s target audience to introduce the publication and invite them to the table to talk business.
Stony Plain worked with El Designo, a graphic design firm out of Edmonton, to create the Community Profile. Led by Stony Plain’s “you need to feel and experience it to get it atmosphere,” and the community’s visually prominent lamp-posts, El Designo conceptualized a design that portrays Stony Plain as a vibrant beacon on the prairies. Before its official launch, El Designo submitted Stony Plain’s Community Profile design for a Marcomm Award in their Print Media, Design, Brochure category, where it received a platinum award and generated critical buzz around the project.
Stony Plain recognizes the changing landscape of print materials. They’re nice to have but not necessary. Limited copies of the Community Profile were printed as the municipality continues to shift away from unnecessary print materials, and the copies printed were sourced from environmentally responsible paper. The primary delivery method of the publication is digital.
Link to Community Profile: https://stonyplain-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/p/kbrink/ER-qnUYvmIBKpH49tMUxQrcBo9_4hfcesJ38knM9Z4Ds0Q?e=inBJ9a
