EDCO Ontario Marketing Awards – Several
At the 50th annual conference of the Economic Developers' Council of Ontario (EDCO) on Thursday, February 8, 2007, Norfolk County's Tourism & Economic Development Division won three marketing awards and two honourable mentions.
Norfolk County won the award for Best Travel Trade or Group Tour Publication in Ontario. Norfolk County’s Group Tour Planner, aimed at the group and motor coach tour operator sector, was designed and produced by Norfolk County staff, and printed by Annex Publishing & Printing of Simcoe. The Group Tour Planner is distributed across North America to group tour and receptive operators who are interested in bringing their groups to new and unique destination such as Norfolk County. Several local businesses and organizations pitched in financially to cover the cost of printing the full-colour brochure.
Norfolk County won a second award for Best Standalone Tourism Advertisement in Ontario for the South Coast Van. The van features images of Norfolk County wrapped creatively around its hood, fenders, panels and doors, as well as sponsors’ logos. The South Coast Van promotes the area as it travels within Norfolk County and to other destinations in the Great Lakes Region. Since its tires hit the road last spring, the South Coast Van has travelled over 8,000 kilometres and turned heads in such cities as Ottawa, Toronto, London and Erie, Pennsylvania. Several local businesses signed two-year contracts to pay for the van’s graphic wrap, which was designed by Norfolk County staff and applied by Commercial Digital Print of Stoney Creek.
Norfolk County won a third award in the Best Tourism Special Event / Campaign category for its annual FlavourFest initiative at the Norfolk County Fair & Horse Show. The goal of FlavourFest is to promote local farm produce and value-added products through a market exhibit at the Fair involving several local growers and businesses. More than $50,000 worth of local products have been sold to Fair-goers over the three years that FlavourFest has been operated. The “Two Fairly Fat Guys” also provided cooking demonstrations at FlavourFest, featuring local produce in their recipes. This past summer they travelled to the Canadian National Exhibition along with representatives of the Norfolk County Fair and Norfolk County to promote Norfolk County produce.
Norfolk County also received honourable mention in the Best Advertising Campaign category for FlavourFest.
Norfolk County also picked up a joint honourable mention as part of its collaboration with Brantford, Haldimand and Oxford on a Best Cooperative Advertising initiative with the “Ontario’s South Coast & Beyond” marketing collective.
"Norfolk County is honoured to receive such glowing recognition from our economic development peers across the province," said Dennis Travale, Mayor of Norfolk County. "We are blessed to have many local businesses willing to contribute financially to award-winning initiatives coordinated by Norfolk County."
Norfolk County competed against over 190 other submissions from more than 60 economic development and tourism offices across Ontario. The awards are highly coveted by municipalities aiming to bring new manufacturers and tourists to their communities. At the awards ceremony a year ago, Norfolk County won the award for Best Community Profile and received an honourable mention for its Experience Guide.
For more information, visit the Norfolk County Economic Development tourism website at www.norfolktourism.ca or call (519) 426-9497.