When Central Alberta: Access Prosperity presented a business networking opportunity during an Innisfail Chamber of Commerce-hosted event at the library they brought along an illustration-based video to break down what exactly it is they do.
The short animation is just one in a series of videos that was honoured by the Economic Developers Association of Alberta (EDA) with a Creative Innovations award at its annual conference, held in Kananaskis April 11.
Created by Amplomedia in 2012, the videos are meant to show how the group can increase the size of the Central Albertan economic pie by bridging the desire for local development with outside investment interests.
The process to create the slick vector-based shorts was quite involved, according to Danielle Klooster, business retention, expansion and investment officer for Access Prosperity.
“You first develop the script, then they storyboard it,” she said. “Then you tweak it and give feedback.”
Since Access Prosperity is an initiative representing five different groups with a variety of economic needs, the big challenge was to boil complex ideas down to simple language.
“We've developed this sub-lingo of buzzwords we use in our industry,” she said. “To try to explain those in easy terms to the layperson is no easy task.”
The videos won the Video: (Large Community) award in the Creative Innovations category at the EDA's Awards of Excellence presentation.
“When we saw the final project it was the end of the journey,” she said. “I was immediately impressed.”
Access Prosperity, which is supported by the Royal Alberta Development Fund, is a joint venture between Red Deer Regional Economic Development and the Central Alberta Economic Partnership.
Al Kemmere, Access Prosperity's board chair, said the video is part of a larger promotional package used to attract investment and promote business retention and growth.
“Our staff-people are very innovative about how they can take the message about what access prosperity is all about and catch the eye of the public,” he said. “They're innovative thinkers.”
