Southwest Alta. Group recognized to marketing
Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC), which has been in existence since 1968, handed out its Marketing Canada Awards during the last week in February.
A southwest Alberta organization won in the website category.
Canada's Premier Food Corridor's website https://www.canadaspremierfoodcorridor.ca was of two website which earned a EDAC marketing award. Canada's Premier Food Corridor is a collaboration of Taber Economic Development, Municipal District of Taber, Lethbridge County, Town of Coaldale and Economic Development Lethbridge describes themselves as Canada's Premier Food Corridor is a “consortium of Economic Development professionals working to advance the agri-food sector in Southern Alberta, Canada through investment attraction and advocacy for the agri-food industry. Each Municipality or Economic Development Organization serves an individual community while focusing on a greater vision of investment, innovation, and growth for the CPFC Region.”
“The CPFC initiative has been steadily gaining momentum and recognition over the last few years and as we move forward into 2021 we hope to capitalize on this momentum," explains Ben Young, Economic Development Officer, Town of Taber.
We will be attending various conference and trade shows mostly through virtual platforms and continue to tell the story of agriculture in Southern Alberta. There is a huge opportunity for Alberta right to attract more value-added processing capacity to create stable jobs and drive the economic recovery postcovid, and that is exactly what CPFC is trying to achieve.”
“Each year we submit an initiative or two for the Economic Developers Association of Canada Marketing Awards in an attempt to showcase the work Economic Developers are doing in our region”, notes Trevor Lewington, Economic Development Lethbridge CEO. “Having Canada’s Premier Food Corridor selected as the winner in the best website category confirms that the work we’re doing with our regional partners is effective. Awards like this showcase the power of the farmers, producers and innovators along the corridor as we truly try to demonstrate that the hashtag we use #SouthernAlbertaFeedsTheWorld is recognized worldwide.”
Southwest Alberta has a lot to offer in regards to trade and industry as the CPFC says it has a Gross Domestic Product of $8 billion and 4.2 million total land acres, 4,470 farms and over 11,000 businesses.
“Businesses in the region are at the centre of a wellpositioned trading area just north of the US border serving approximately 342,000 people; a transportation / warehouse sector valued at $207 million,” reads the CPFC website.
“Agriculture and Agri-Food are such important sectors for our region and contribute a huge chunk of GDP to the economy, our organization and partners in the CPFC (Taber Economic Development, Town of Coaldale, Lethbridge County, Municipal District of Taber) understood that building this consortium would benefit our region for years to come,” adds Erin Crane, Director, Investment Attraction, Economic Development Lethbridge. “As the CPFC flourishes and gains more recognition it will ideally bring in new investment, new innovators and new technologies to Southern Alberta, which will not just make the food corridor more successful, it will spill over into other important sectors for the region.”
EDAC’s Marketing Canada Awards have chosen to focus on highlighting up-and-coming best practices in marketing and community initiatives.
Marketing Canada Awards are handed in a virtual presentation where we will recognize the Cup Contenders and the EDAC Cup will be awarded.
The Marketing Canada Awards Judging Panel “is made up of a diverse group of individuals with marketing and promotion expertise. Judges will evaluate submissions to determine award recipients.
Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria: creativity and uniqueness of the approach; effectiveness in achieving objectives; user-friendliness; ease of extracting information and completeness and consistency of approach.