Back to SearchThe City’s Economic Development and Tourism Department is excited to announce that it has won a Marketing Canada Award. The Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) revealed the winners of the 2024 Marketing Canada awards at its annual conference hosted September 30 to October 3 in Edmonton, Alberta.
The City’s Winter Banner project was recognized under the category of Promotional Item which highlights unique pieces created specifically to promote or reinforce business/tourism themes, opportunities, attractions, or services.
The 2021 Five Year Tourism and Economic Development Strategy identifies the objective to enhance four-season visitor experiences and the tactic to deliver off-season focused programming, which includes the development of a comprehensive Winter City Strategy. In 2023, the City engaged Wake Marketing to deliver the Winter City Strategy. Through engagement with community members, City staff and industry stakeholders, the strategy outlines three key areas – attractions and activities, marketing, and promotion and events.
One of the items identified in the strategy was to develop a series of winter-themed banners that could be displayed seasonally in the Harbourtown Centre, Kenora’s downtown core. To deliver this initiative, the municipality partnered with Harbourtown BIZ, the business improvement area, and received funding through the Province of Ontario Rural Economic Development Program.
The City considered a new approach for the project rather than what had been done for the previous design and development of banners. Inspired by work in other communities, the City was excited to deliver a campaign to encourage youth artists to develop banner designs. Participants aged 18 years and younger were invited to use a template that would be scaled to a life-sized banner to create their design. Young artists were encouraged to feature their favourite winter activity or experience on the banner, promoting what winter in Kenora means to them. Templates were available online, at City Hall, the Douglas Family Art Centre, the Lake of the Woods Discovery Centre and the Kenora Public Library. The Art Centre and Library hosted drop-in art sessions for youth to design their banners on-site. This portion of the project was delivered in the Fall of 2023.
Approximately 30 to 45 banner designs were needed to display along the Greenbelt, Main Street South, and Second Street South, which would complement the large Main Street Christmas Tree erected annually.
A Selection Committee comprised of staff members from the Economic Development, Tourism, Library, and Art Centre departments met to choose the banner designs and worked to select 48 banners from over 300 submissions that were received. The designs were then provided to Wake Marketing, who scaled the drawings to a life-size street banner. The banners were installed in November 2023, in time for the community celebration to light the Main Street Christmas Tree.
“We are incredibly proud to have received the Marketing Canada Award for the Winter Banner project. This achievement reflects the strong collaboration, community support, and involvement of local youth in realizing the Winter Banner Project. It underscores our commitment to making a positive impact through community engagement and enhancing the four-season experience in Kenora for both residents and visitors. Congratulations to the team for this national recognition,” states Stace Gander, Director of Economic Development and Tourism.
Kenora was entered into the mid-sized category for economic development budgets of $200,000 to $600,000. The municipality had previously won EDAC Marketing Awards in 2018 for its Choose Kenora project and in 2023 for its Tourism Destination Brand and for the Ken and Nora social media campaign.
To view the City’s submission, please visit the 2024 Marketing Canada Awards Gallery of Entries.
About the Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC)
EDAC is Canada’s national organization of economic developers pursuing excellence in the field since 1968. With over 1,000 members from coast to coast to coast, EDAC delivers a comprehensive program of:
- Professional development, including the Ec.D. – Canada’s nationally recognized designation for economic developers
- Networking and information sharing opportunities with a national perspective
- Tools and resources – both on and offline – for economic development in Canada
Media contact
Megan Dokuchie, Economic Development Officer
807-467-2127
mdokuchie@kenora.ca
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