Open Farm Days
Marketing a Province-Wide Agricultural Tour
Alberta Open Farm Days allows farmers and ranchers to invite their urban and rural neighbours to stop in for a visit to share stories, see demonstrations, learn more about farming in Alberta, and to visit rural communities in the province. The program works with producers at the farm level as well as organizations that use local ingredients to make products such as beer, liquor and collaborate with some of Alberta's most talented chefs to host memorable series of farm-to-table culinary events throughout the province using Alberta farm products.
2019, was a record-breaking year for Open Farm Days with 150 farms registering and over 40,000 visits to farms across the province - an 80% increase over the previous year.
Our role was to bring awareness to the event using online as well as traditional media marketing and public relations tactics - to bring awareness of the event and to bring forward conversations and stories of Alberta producers.
The program required a multi-faceted approach to marketing and public relations as the program reaches audiences across the province we program was in 4 areas.
Digital Media (social media, social media ads, google ads)
Traditional media advertising (radio, TV, and newspapers)
Earned Media (sending news releases and being interviews)
Events: creating a space for influencers and media to interact and learn more about Open Farm Days.
Open Farm Days Projects
Collaborated with the Troubled Monk & Blindman Brewery in 2019 to create an Open Farm Days Beer.
Working with Tannis Baker from Food Tourism Strategies in 2020 we created the Open Farm Days curated boxes with Alberta grocery delivery service The Organic Box. Part of the curated boxes included working with local Chefs Judy Wood and Paul Rogalski and member of the Team Canada for the World Butcher Challenge, Elyse Chatterton. The curated boxes were created using only products from Open Farm Days Farms, often with a regional theme.
Media and influencer events at the 124th Street Grand Market in 2019 and at Rge Road in 2021. Inviting local influencers and foodies to connect with local farmers and taste locally prepared food.
“Light the Bridge” and “Light the Tower” community engagement in Edmonton and Calgary.
Social Media Strategy
As a majority of the audience that participates in Open Farm Days have a generational divide from farming or no farming experience at all, we needed to bring the farm to the consumers in easily digestible pieces. Albertans already have an inherent love for shopping local and supporting Alberta farmers. Our job was to show what people could expect to experience at an Open Farm Days event in ways that felt welcoming and were not overwhelming.
Our social media efforts paid off with a 3,995% increase in engagement over the year before.
From 2018 to 2019 farms saw an increase of attendance of 80%.
The global pandemic has certainly affected the way that Open Farm Days was able to operate in a safe capacity. Farms were required to have visitors register so AHS could trace a possible outbreak, and to limit the number of visitors visiting a farm at a time (important for smaller venues). Audiences as a whole while eager to explore were nervous about events and gathering in large groups.
We love working with the team at Open Farm Days. Part of the reason Collective Marketing chose the name “collective” is because nothing we do happens in a vacuum. There are a lot of people we have the opportunity to work with and bounce ideas off (and make beer with).
Open Farm Days plan to grow and become an incubator for Agri-tourism in the future providing resources for farms to create experiences for visitors to their farm. We will continue to support the farms with marketing training and support during Open Farm Days to make their events a success.