National marketing award for Frontenac County branding campaign

Jeff Green | Nov 03, 2016

When Frontenac County was defining its brand last year, one of the key insights was that the first group that needed to be the target of a branding campaign were the residents of Frontenac County.

Then, after the new brand was launched this summer, the first job of Alison Vandervelde, who was hired in August on a three-year contract as a field officer for the county’s Economic Development department, was to get out to the key linchpins of the region - local business owners - and convince them to adopt the brand.

Starting just after Labour Day, Vandervelde began contacting businesses, visiting them in the now familiar Frontenac County Smart Car, and adopting them as brand ambassadors. Her goal was to sign up 100 brand ambassadors by the end of 2016.

So far she has signed up 35, including four in one day last week.

“I don't know if we will get to 100 by the end of the year, even though there is no lack of businesses that are interested. It just that now that we are engaged in conversation with so many businesses about how they can use the brand and connect with other businesses, more of my time is taken up,” she said.

The goal of 100 sign ups was only meant as a way to kick-start the program, and the response from the businesses and from the promotional campaign on the County Facebook feed has already shown Vandervelde that there is an appetite among business owners to develop their own brand as a part of something larger.

“A number of businesses are really taking the INFrontenac idea to heart, and are using it in their packaging, on their storefronts, wherever they can,” she said.

Among some of the businesses there is also a feeling of solidarity developing.

“You see a business like Gray's Grocery selling Gilmour's meats; the Cardinal Cafe using Gray's Grocery bread and meat from Seed to Sausage; The Point Restaurant selling Cheesecakerybakery desserts. They are not doing this to promote the In Frontenac brand, but they are businesses that are already working together and want to work together more. They also recognize that the cross-promotion from INFrontenac can only help them,” she said.

One of the other immediate impacts of the brand ambassador program has been to the social media profile of Frontenac County.

Every new brand ambassador is posted on the Frontenac County Facebook page, and since September 1 that page has increased its profile radically in every category.

The number of views for Frontenac County Facebook posts for the three months preceding the brand ambassador campaign (June 1 to August 31) was 65,000. During the same period the number of engagements (likes, shares, comments, or clicks) was 2543.

In September and October, a two-month period (the brand campaign started on September 7), the number of views has jumped to 177,801 and engagements have jumped to 11,558.

“These are large increases, partly because we have joined up with the Facebook profiles of our brand ambassadors, some of whom are pretty adept at marketing through social media. It has also meant that the other messaging on the Frontenac County Facebook page has reached more people because more people like our page,” she said.

The next phase of the brand ambassador campaign started a couple of weeks ago with a bulk email to all the current ambassadors. The goal of the email was to introduce the businesses to each other.

“I hope that you will use this information to connect with each other, as everyone seems very interested in working together … and keep on using the hashtag #infrontenac to help build our online story of adventure and community,” was the message in the email.

One of the benefits of Vandervelde’s new job (she was the communications officer for the County formerly) has been the opportunity to get out and meet people all across the county and see what they are trying to accomplish.

“That's the real bonus of this job,” she said.

Last week in North Frontenac was a great example of that. Among the four businesses she visited was the Polished Spa. “Holly Labow aims to exceed the typical spa experience in her elegant, private spa room at Polished Spa on Brown’s Lane off Ardoch Road. It's such a beautiful spot and a unique building. She sees value in the brand ambassador program,” said Vandervelde.