By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Warden Brian Ostrander took a moment at Tuesday’s meeting of the Northumberland County council’s Corporate Services committee to commend the county’s information campaign on the April 8 solar eclipse.
“I don’t know how many times I visited the county’s website to get information on the eclipse, primarily the timing. It turns out it didn’t matter because it was overcast in Brighton,” Ostrander said.
The information provided, he continued, made things run “incredibly smooth…this could have very easily overwhelmed our community.”
Brighton’s Presqu’ile Park provided a snapshot of what to expect, when their on-line visiting system was activated for the occasion and sold out in three hours.
“Once we saw what was happening, we were anticipating a COVID kind of impact in the community,” Ostrander said.
The article notes that the BECN campaign generated a 15% increase in inquiries. This was indeed the goal, however the campaign actually surpassed the goal and generated a 48% increase in inquiries.
In the end, preparations and information disseminated produced the desired effect – no incidents
“Which is incredible, because we had a lot of people come into the community,” he said.
The warden’s commendations followed a report by Marketing and Creative Services Supervisor Shayna Tinson and Director of Communications Kate Campbell on communications efforts in the first quarter of 2024.
The eclipse awareness project (an on-line education campaign on safety and preparedness that got more than 2,800 views) was one of the special projects of the first quarter, Campbell said, along with such initiatives as the prospective homeless shelter at 310 Division St. in Cobourg (which engaged and informed residents, reaching more than 40,000 people and directly engaging more than 130) and the EarlyON Family Fun Bingo event (with a 20% growth participation over last year).
Tinson reported a six-month marketing campaign undertaken by the Business and Entrepreneurship Centre of Northumberland between October 2023 and March 2024.
In its 30 years as a vital hub for entrepreneurs, Tinson said, the BECN has helped more than 16,000 new businesses.
The six-month campaign saw a 15% increase in client enquiries and a 105% increase in web traffic over the same period in 2022. Over that period, 61 businesses were launched, sustained or expanded, 90 applications were received for Starter Company programs, their She Owns It women’s entrepreneurship conference sold out – all contributing to more than 143 new local jobs.
