What if Wetaskiwin
Building a community-guided blueprint for better.
ClientCity of WetaskiwinServicesVideography, post production, copywriting, web developmentYear2021Linkwww.whatifwetaskiwin.ca
Overview
In 2021, Wetaskiwin was preparing to unveil a comprehensive 50-year community vision to guide the City’s future growth and development.
City leadership knew full well that for such an ambitious long-term plan to succeed, it needed to be more than a formal document; it had to be a shared community narrative that resonated with residents, businesses, and adjacent First Nations communities alike.
The culmination of an engagement with more than a thousand Wetaskiwinites, this guiding document was crafted to reflect the City’s long-term commitment to engaging the community at large, understanding collective priorities and concerns, and taking action on community-guided goals. It also reports back to the community on milestones, setbacks, pivots, and related news.
The Goals
- Drive regional awareness of the City’s 50-year community vision
- Make this initiative resonate with citizens and adjacent communities
- Co-develop a framework for sustained community collaboration
- Help ensure the 50-year community vision maintains its momentum
The Challenge
Our primary challenge was to transform an ambitious, multi-decade vision—complete with complex urban planning, economic development, and sustainability goals—into a narrative that was relatable, inspiring, and easily understood by the broader community. This was further complicated by the considerable social issues the City faces, including inordinate challenges related to drugs and homelessness.
The City needed to make the future feel tangible and personally relevant to its citizens. For this vision to succeed, it needed to encourage active participation and widespread public support while acknowledging and building a shared vision in the face of generational community complexities.
Our Solution
We understood that the core purpose of the 50-year vision was to engage citizens in a dialogue about what the City could become if everyone took part in building it. Or to frame this mandate as a question: “What if we could…?” Distilling this ideation down to its essence, we coined the name [what if wetaskiwin] for the City’s awareness campaign.
Our campaign centred on the power of authentic video storytelling. We created a series of short, high-impact videos that not only explained the vision in the words of community leaders, but also demonstrated it. Instead of relying on jargon-heavy reports, our approach was to tap into the hopes and aspirations of the community itself. Each video posed simple-yet-compelling questions like “What if we focus on what unites us, instead of clinging to the psychological walls that divide us?” or “What if we could leave good enough behind in the pursuit of better?”
This leveraged video storytelling to great effect by creating emotional connections and painting a clear, positive picture of the future in which everyone could envision their role.
Implementation
The What if Wetaskiwin campaign was rolled out across the City’s digital channels, including its official website, social media platforms, and local news outlets. The cornerstone of the implementation was a professionally produced video series featuring capstone videos, candid interviews with real residents, and powerful, narrative-driven visuals.
Differences
Capstone 1
Commitment
Capstone 2
Find Our Way
Capstone 3
Data Storytelling Elements
User-Select Letter Templates
Surveys and Public Sound Bites
“The Tangent Civic team was fundamental in driving this campaign home across our community and business sectors. This is proof positive that when we stand together, we have the power to effect real change.”
Murray Kerik
Reeve, Municipal District of Lesser Slave River
Quantitative Benefit
The What if Wetaskiwin campaign achieved remarkable results, far exceeding traditional public engagement metrics. Within the first two weeks of launch, the campaign videos garnered over 150,000 views across all platforms, representing a 500% increase in typical City-managed social media engagement. This translated into a 75% rise in traffic to the project’s dedicated landing page.
Most critically, post-campaign surveys showed an 80% increase in public awareness of the City’s 50-year vision and a significant boost in community enthusiasm and support, leading to a successful vote on the plan’s adoption.
The campaign’s success validated the strategic use of video as a powerful tool for civic communication and public consensus-building.
