Uniquely Rural

Audience-focused communications campaign

  • Pitched, planned, and directed a communications campaign to highlight the stories of individual members
  • Collaborated with internal teams to idenitfy, coordinate, and conduct onsite video interviews
  • Worked with other marcom staff to create videos, build a special web hub, and share the campaign widely
  • Resulted in increased engagement with external stakeholders, including direct members and government policy makers

“Feature our members in our communications efforts” was a goal that had been in the Rural Municipalities of Alberta’s strategic plan since before I started at the organization. As the Manager of Marketing & Communications, my team and I tried to engage the association’s membership in a variety of ways, but ended up with little to show for the effort.

Then, in the spring of 2022, we pitched a new campaign idea to our Advocacy department: instead of asking our members to engage with us, we would go directly to them to record their stories. After some deliberation, we settled on “Uniquely Rural” as the name for the campaign to help illustrate how rural municipalities differ from their urban neighbours. Our Advocacy team identified several municipalities that would be willing to participate in the process, set up some appointments for us, and we hit the road.

Over the months that followed, we got to hear firsthand the challenges our members were facing in a wide variety of areas, and how each had made important efforts to overcome them. One municipality was proactively building flexible fire prevention and mitigation systems. Another spoke of unprecedented collaborative efforts across their borders that had led to opportunities they had never thought possible previously. Yet another spoke about a wide-sweeping plan to provide internet access to residents far from urban hubs. Though each story was different, they were united in their commitment to improving life for their communities that drove them to think bigger and work smarter.

From the footage we gathered, we wove together a handful of short video spots. We shared them on the RMA YouTube channel, posted them on social media, added them to a special section on the website, and played them for everyone at the association's convention.

"The Uniquely Rural campaign could be one of the most important things that you have done here so far," one of the board members told me later. "The members loved it and the government took notice — it made the stories real for them."

I grew up in a large city and, though I have rural roots, this campaign helped me feel that I finally understood the passion that people in rural Alberta have for their home.