Red Deer’s Identity Project was developed in 2013 under the City’s Strategic Direction plan and the results of the project were officially released this week.

The vision of the project was to create a unified identification of what the City of Red Deer encompasses. The Identity Project is a way for partners, City staff and other community members to be able to share the collective experience of the City in a uniform way.

Kristy Svoboda, charter champion for the Identity Project, was pleased to be able to announce the launch of a web site and promotional videos that are the result of three years’ work on the project.

“We had the questions being asked by council, but we also had various partners and stakeholders across the City – Tourism Red Deer, the Chamber of Commerce, Red Deer College, and more – all doing similar, but different work. City council said we need to have a project that really looks at our identity as a whole, rather than individual groups,” Svoboda said.

“It’s important to speak with a united voice about what Red Deer is, especially coming up to the 2019 Canada Winter Games.”

The official launch of the project’s results include a web site, www.uncoverreddeer.ca, and two videos. The videos are available on the site and are meant to be used as promotional tools both within and outside the City borders.

“When we speak with the same voice, we can more clearly tell Red Deer’s true story,” Svoboda said at the launch event.

“Part of the project is the videos. We have launched the first of many that will be coming. The other part is this micro-site that will be available for our partners initially, and then the citizens, to be able to access so that we’re accessing the same information and videos. We will ask our partners to be posting their stories to the site as well, so that we’re able to share what Red Deer is.”

Mayor Tara Veer was in attendance at the launch and was pleased to be able to announce the culmination of work that has taken part under the umbrella of the Identity Project.

“In the absence of Red Deer telling the people of our province and country who we are in an authentic way, those messages were being filled in on their own,” Veer said.

“This project ultimately was referred back to Red Deerians, and our staff went through an extremely rigorous engagement process with our community. We asked Red Deerians, ‘What do you love about Red Deer? What is the authentic Red Deer to you?’ After that very thorough engagement process, Red Deerians told us who they are and what they love about the City.

“Today’s launch is the culmination of what citizens said, and it’s the beginning of a whole messaging process and equipping partnering organizations with marketing tools to tell Red Deer’s story on behalf of Red Deerians.”

The videos and information on the site are available to the public. Various City stakeholders will continue to add videos, photos and anecdotes about what they feel the identity of the City is.

“We felt that it was really important to continue on with the process of community engagement because Red Deer’s story is a living story. With the online access, our community will be able to contribute photos and stories and the great things they love about Red Deer. We will continue to work in collaboration with our partner organizations so that we can market Red Deer for tourism, business growth, development, new students, new residential growth – there are numerous possibilities that will become reality as a result of this coordinated approach to telling the Red Deer story,” Veer said.

kmendonsa@reddeerexpress.com