DAWSON CREEK, B.C. – People from the Peace River district of northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia are convinced that their area is special and the products they produce are unique.
Now, they hope a new Peace country logo launched April 16 will let the rest of the world know it too.
“We’ve created a visual identity for the region,” said Don Pettit, a Peace River area photographer and book publisher who led the team of graphic artists that designed the logo.
The logo is one method a group of Peace district promoters, led by the Kiwanis Enterprise Centre in Dawson Creek, hopes to promote the Peace River area.
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“This is just another way of getting the word out there that we are a unique region,” said Frances Armstrong, program manager with the Kiwanis centre, which helps entrepreneurs start and promote their businesses.
Armstrong hopes the aspen leaf logo will be recognizable around the world as a symbol of purity, excellence and Peace River area products. The challenge for the designers was to find a logo that would be instantly recognizable but fit on the side of a giant rail car carrying Peace River grain just as well as a jar of Peace River-made saskatoon jam or honey.
The project started more than three years ago when a consulting group said the Peace River area had a tremendous potential to be marketed. The area was “pristine, pure and perfect,” it said.
Isolated from other parts of Canada by mountains and forests, the Peace district is already known for its honey, fruit, grain and livestock.
By labelling products from the Peace River area, the Branding the Peace Country Association hopes producers who use the label will make more money.
“This logo and branding is worth millions to those producers,” said Pettit, who sees no reason why the logo couldn’t be used to help identify Peace lumber, gas and tourist facilities as well as food.
Now that the logo has been launched, the group wants commodity groups to help write a set of standards that producers would have to follow before being allowed to use the logo.
Bill Oppen, a public policy consultant who helped organize the branding program, said the logo would be good for consumers.
“People here want regional products.”
He said it’s difficult for local consumers to find a locally produced jar of jam in their grocery stores and nearly impossible for visitors to find something local.
It’s now up to the group to create an awareness campaign, he added.
“We need to raise the profile of the logo so it has a value to producers.”
It is no use if it’s not recognizable or if it doesn’t represent a high-quality product, he said.
Armstrong said a new bison plant in Fort St. John, B.C., or the Peace Country Premium Beef group that sells local beef would be ideal candidates to use the logo.
