June 10, 2004
Being the busiest tourist destination between Toronto and Banff is a difficult job- especially when more than 1,000,000 visitors pass through each year. The City of Kenora, located two hours north of the Ontario/Minnesota border on famous Lake of the Woods, is no stranger to tourism.
Lake of the Woods has been known for its recreational tourist attractions and getaways for many years. Kenora is a positive and progressive community that is aggressively seeking new development in the community, especially in the forestry and recreational sectors. A prime location for new business development, the City of Kenora needed to get its name recognized in the marketplace. It was time to tell the world about the benefits of running a business in Kenora.
In 2002, Grant Carlson of LOWBIC took it upon himself to start an unprecedented marketing initiative. His main goal was to market the City of Kenora using attractive brochures and pamphlets.
“The project came about as a result of the local Abitibi consolidated paper mill closing one of its machines and permanently laying off over 100 workers in 2001. The Mayors Committee was formed to deal with the layoffs and recommended that an application be made to the NOHFC (Northern Ontario Heritage Fund) for funding for marketing Kenora and specifically the new industrial part developed that year”, says Carlson.
The city of Kenora applied for funding from the NOHFC and received $90,000 for Carlson and team to develop a package of information for marketing Kenora and the area. The final products consist of the Open for Business lure brochure, a trade show booth, a Forestry Product Profile and a Recreational Product Profile. Other marketing tools include the new City of Kenora video in addition to advertising in select publications. All of these promotional products proclaim that Kenora is “open for business”, a statement supported by the Kenora municipal team.
At the 2004 Ontario Marketing Awards, The Open for Business, Trade Show Booth, and Cover Folder/Forestry and Recreational Product profiles won marketing awards presented by the Economic Developers Council of Ontario. Clearly, LOWBIC has provided Kenora with the first class materials required to properly promote the city to prospective new business and industry.
When asked about what future Kenora marketing initiatives LOWBIC had planned, Carlson remarks: “We are planning to use the materials through mail outs, inserts in publications and all of the print materials and video either are or will be on the City of Kenora/LOWBIC website. We are also looking at producing an economic development magazine that will tie our industries together, as well as tourism and quality of life.”