Chances are you haven’t seen the latest promotional item from Wellington County’s economic development department, but 52,000 copies were distributed with a national Newspaper in Toronto.
Entitled Letters from the Country, the 16-page brochure features businesses from across the county to entice residents of the Greater Toronto Area to travel to Wellington for a day trip or a weekend getaway.
The “lure piece” was presented to Mapleton council during a departmental update from Jaclyn Dingwall, economic development officer for the township.
“We have received two new promotional materials from the County of Wellington that they recently published, including their revamped visitor’s map that will be given out and also a newer piece, Letters from the Country, featuring businesses from all over the county, including Mapleton’s Organic Dairy,” Dingwall said.
In addition to the farm and ice cream shop, the brochure features two-page spreads (photos and information) on Blown Away Glass in Elora, the Elora Brewing Company, Rockwood Conservation Area, and La Cucina di Natalina of Guelph-Eramosa.
“We just looked for the leaders in Wellington County for this first round and we went out and took photos of those that were willing to participate,” explained Crystal Ellis, economic development officer for the county.
The front of the brochure features the Aberfoyle Antique Market.
“The Letters from the Country kind of formed out of the festivals and events guide, just so that we could promote Wellington County beyond Wellington County,” said Ellis.
“We’re so close to Toronto, but we felt that we needed to give them a nice impression of what Wellington County looks like and all of the things that we featured in the … booklet, they’re all things that people can pick up the phone and they can do.”
Ellis explained officials wanted to display “authentic” experiences.
“We don’t want to misinterpret what Wellington County is to people. We want them to be able to come, to build that expectation and then they can feel great about it when they come here and they want to come back,” she said.
Around 52,000 copies were distributed in the GTA in July and another 18,000 copies will be available at the International Plowing Match (IPM) in September.
The Wellington County visitor’s map was also updated this summer.
“If you’ve seen it before it had a picture of the Wellington County Museum and Archives on the front and it’s run for a number of years, with that same style and imagery,” said Ellis.
“We were given the opportunity this year to work with them to make it more of a visitor guide rather than a resident map.”
The reverse side of the map boast places to stay and discover.
“We just gave it a bit more style compared to the previous one,” said Ellis.
The map will be available at each of the municipalities, as well as distributed at the IPM.
“When people come to the Wellington County showcase they’ll be able to take away that map with them. Hopefully if they’re a visitor they’ll see something and want to come back,” said Ellis.
The county spent around $19,000 on the design, printing and distribution of the Letters from the Country brochure and $23,000 on the redesign and printing of the visitor’s map.
Ellis said this was made possible because the county didn’t redesign the festival and events guide. The economic development department has a total of $500,000 in the 2016 budget for purchased services such as these.
