Loyalist College P.R. program students will create a plan as part of their course work to promote Prince Edward County’s new Web 2.0 investment attraction campaign - www.buildanewlife.ca.
Submitted assignments will be forwarded to the Corporation of the County of Prince Edward for review; a campaign winner will then be chosen by County officials, to be announced at the spring PRISM awards.
We have set up a Facebook group where we can chat and answer questions re this project. There are also some good resource links posted there for you.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43535762818

Here's some more detail on the project:

What is our objective?
To attract "creative class" investment in Prince Edward County through a PR campaign created and executed by Loyalist PR Students in 2009.

Here's an example of a creative class investment - listen to how Dave speaks about living and working in Prince Edward County.
Dave and Stacey Hatch of Whistlestop Productions:
http://www.buildanewlife.ca/site/index.php/Creative-Industries/Film-and-Video/Film-Video-Sound.html

Who are we targeting?

Romantic business people, who are looking for an urban lifestyle in a rural setting. These people are either ready to invest or are open to the idea of investing in PEC. They want to live an authentic life and fit into the environment and community, not change it. These people are adventurous, risk takers, entrepreneurial and could be moving an existing business such as software based product. They want to escape but still be able to function.

For the purpose of this project we are specifically looking to target Creative Class Gen Xers within this psychographic.

The process of attracting this type of investment is a little different than a traditional investment attraction approach. We are looking, with this campaign to attract people who will invest themselves and their talents in Prince Edward County. To a certain extent we are looking for needles in haystacks, versus a clearly defineable target in the traditional marketing sense.

So how can you narrow down your approach to this project?
Here are some of our suggestions..

- People Approach: Targeting a demographic to attract- Creative Class Gen Xers
- Sector/Insustry Specifc Approach: Selecting and targeting a specifc creative class business type to attract - ie an animation studio
- Revitalisation: Targeting a specific facility or building and "selling" it through creating and promoting creative class usage opportunities for it.

You are also free to do a combination of the above, or bring your own creative ideas to the table.

Why Prince Edward County? What is our key message?

Over the past few years Prince Edward County has been building and supporting many robust and diverse communities throughout the region. These communities collectively combine tourism, arts, culture, heritage, agriculture, commerce and industry and integrate well amongst themselves. The geographical area is unique and picturesque with easy access to the GTA, Ottawa and Montreal. We are positioning ourselves as a "Creative Rural Economy", building on the creative economy concepts created by economists including Dr. Richard Florida. Note that these concepts are generally applied in an urban context, so our "take" is a little different.

All of these features provide the inhabitants with a quality of life that is considered by many the best rural living with the highest quality of life in Ontario. PEC has a strong profile as both a tourist destination and as a serious contender for relocation of industries, professionals or entrepreneurs who understand the mindset of being a part of “the creative class”. These people bring a combination of vision, skills, and understanding of their receptive markets outside of PEC but want to have a more balanced and holistic life style.

What tools are already in place and available for use as part of the project?

www.buildanewlife.ca
http://www.youtube.com/user/CountyofPrinceEdward
Prince Edward County Facebook Pages (see link in Global Village box)

What tools and resources would we like you to use?

We are looking for campaign proposals that require manpower to execute (ie PR activity, Social Media, web 2.0, word of mouth options) v's traditonal paid advertising.
We are looking for a campaign that can be set up and launched by interns from your class in Apr/May of this year.

What are we open to?

We are very open to big, creative and innovative ideas that push the envelope. Campaigns designed to cause a "splash" are welcome!

Contact information:
Ask Professor Ramsay for my contact information, or post your questions to the Facebook Group for this project: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43535762818