Features Production Research
Norfolk County wins provincial award

February
3, 2012, Simcoe, Ont – The Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) has
presented the Ontario Marketing Award for community branding to Norfolk County,
for its creation and use of ‘Ontario’s Garden’ in local food and agriculture
promotions.

February
3, 2012, Simcoe, Ont – The Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) has
presented the Ontario Marketing Award for community branding to Norfolk County,
for its creation and use of ‘Ontario’s Garden’ in local food and agriculture
promotions.

Use of
the ‘Ontario’s Garden’ slogan allows local agriculture champions to raise
awareness among food buyers and consumers of how important Norfolk is within
the food sector. The target of the brand is the audience of people with the
ability and interest to spend money on food from Norfolk County.

‘Ontario’s
Garden’ has been incorporated into publications, print, radio and web
advertising, websites, social media and signage. Positive feedback from
consumers and agriculture stakeholders locally and from other communities and
confirms that Norfolk County made a good choice by promoting itself as
‘Ontario’s Garden’.

The
concept of the ‘Ontario’s Garden’ slogan was brought to the attention of a
consulting firm working on behalf of Norfolk County, as part of a wholesale
food sales marketing plan. The slogan was a welcome spin-off benefit of the
research project, which was funded by the Ontario Market Investment Fund,
Norfolk County and the Norfolk District Business Development Corporation.

According
to Statistics Canada, Norfolk County is Ontario’s leading grower of apples,
asparagus, cabbage, cucumbers, green onions and shallots, peanuts, pumpkin,
squash and zucchini, strawberries, sweet corn, and sweet potatoes.