Corpen Group will be doing an audit of the town's communications vehicles and developing a communications plan for both the Town of Olds and the Olds Institute For Community and Regional Development.
The decision to confirm Corpen was made on Sept. 12 during council's regular meeting.
Samantha Saretsky, manager of strategic affairs for the Town of Olds, who helped select the company, said getting the organizations involved in social media is the next step in their plan.
“That's one of the aspects that we wanted to look at in particular with what the potential for social media is for our organization as well as for the Olds Institute. And it's going to give us some tools in future communications both internally and externally,” she said.
Corpen Group will be looking at traditional social media such as Facebook and Twitter as well as other new media and what the potential might be for them. Saretsky said exploring what might be done with Central Alberta TV will also likely be on the agenda.
Corpen will also be evaluating all different types of communications the town currently uses, such as the town newsletter, newspaper advertisements and the town's website to see how effective that communication is.
Corpen Group – from Calgary – was one of eight companies that submitted a Request For Proposal. Bids ranged from a low of $12,500 to a high of $74,865. Corpen's bid came in at about $39,450.
Saretsky said one of the benefits with going with Corpen Group is it focuses on communicating strategically – something the town is extremely interested in.
“One of the advantages for us working with them is they keep things at the strategic level, which is what we want to do,” she said, adding that the company will look at how others view the town's communications efforts and make sure everyone in the organization is communicating a common message.
“That would also lend itself well to the Olds Institute in … checking how they're communicating (through) the different committees as well as through the different stakeholders in that organization,” she said.
According to Saretsky, the company has worked with Mountain View County on a similar initiative.
John Larsen, who will be leading the Olds project, has worked with the City of Calgary in the past on issues management and executive communications. The communications work is Phase 2 in a plan that has already seen the town launch a new logo and will include a third phase to refresh the town's website.
