Councillors hope to improve P.A.’s image through $50,000 storytelling campaign

By Alison Sandstrom, paNOW

Prince Albert City Council is looking to pay up to $50,000 for a social media marketing campaign that will tell positive stories about Prince Albert.

Councillors voted 5-4 to put the project out to tender during Thursday’s budget deliberations, against the recommendation of their communications manager who advised a similar initiative could be carried out by her office at no additional cost to taxpayers.

Coun. Ted Zurakowski was one of the most vocal advocates of the plan, kicking off discussions Thursday by saying through no fault of its busy communication department, the City had failed to do enough to promote good news about Prince Albert. A new “positive storytelling strategy” would be a major economic driver, benefitting businesses in the city, he said.

“We have to take that ownership of selling the good parts of our city because there are enough negative things out there that we need to stand up and we need to bark back a little bit,” Zurakowski said.

The idea for the new marketing campaign was presented to council by a husband and wife team in November. Perry and Rhonda Trusty of Capstone Community Marketing told councillors for $50,000 they would produce five social media posts a week, including “interviews with local businesses, photography of the natural beauty and interesting stories of arts, culture, sport and people.”

“We need to change that image that we are a city of a bunch of criminals,” Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick said in November.

At Thursday’s budget deliberations, the City’s communications manager, Kiley Bear told council that she heard “loud and clear that positive storytelling was a priority” for council.

In a report, she noted that the Prince Albert Regional Economic Development Alliance (PAREDA) had secured funding from Sask Tourism to promote positive stories about P.A. in 2021 through blogs, videos and pictures. She also cited that the City had recently hired a communications coordinator who has “extensive experience in social media, graphic design and photography.” The creation of the new position in July doubled the size of the city’s small communication office, from one to two staff. The office’s 2021 operating budget is $296,660.

“The communications office believes it is possible to align existing internal resources and partners in 2021 to tell more of these stories without an increase to the City’s 2021 Budget,” Bear wrote.

Coun. Tony Head said he wouldn’t support hiring an outside company after reading the report.

“I do think maybe we can do more,” he said. “But I’ll follow the recommendation from the City, and they’re doing a great job already.”

Meanwhile, his colleague Coun. Blake Edwards praised the work of Bear and her department, but said they had enough on their plates already.

“I see the negative image that P.A. has… and I hate it because I love this city,” Edwards said. “And I think we should get a company that is solely focused on selling our image, which we haven’t had.”

Council voted 5-4 to put the positive storytelling strategy out to tender. Those in favour were Couns. Zurakowski, Kilmer, Edwards, Ogrodnick and Cody. Dissenting votes were Mayor Greg Dionne, and Couns. Miller, Lennox-Zepp and Head.