The Vision Behind the Secrets of Stony Plain Road: Scavenger Challenge

By Megan Lala

Many of you in the area who use Instagram and/or Facebook may have noticed our recent Shop Local campaign from the Stony Plain Road & Area Business Improvement Area (BIA). The Secrets of Stony Plain Road: Scavenger Challenge brought together a variety of diverse businesses in the neighbourhood to help the BIA’s vision of creating a sense of community by shopping local in the Stony Plain Road area. Through the help of these businesses and the participation of those in the surrounding region, the social media campaign has proven to be quite successful in making people aware of what Stony Plain Road & Area has to offer!

Over the summer, the Stony Plain Road & Area BIA enlisted the skills of our Shop Local Marketing Assistant, Jane Anderson, to create this shop local campaign that would encourage Edmontonians to interact and visit our businesses, even during a pandemic. After some brainstorming, the Secrets of Stony Plain Road: Scavenger Challenge was born. The campaign was conducted via Facebook and Instagram and promoted the different and unique businesses that the Road has to offer. Many people in the area have lost touch with Stony Plain Road. The goal of our campaign was to reach audiences that we don’t typically connect with under normal circumstances and remind them that there are fantastic businesses in the area that need the support of their community, especially right now.

The campaign began on August 5, 2020 with challenge one and continued on every second day until August 25, 2020 with the draw of our Grand Prize: The Ultimate Stony Plain Road (SPR) Prize Pack. Each challenge lasted 48 hours and at the end of that, the next challenge question was then posted. Each challenge featured a trivia question about the area that participants would answer and then tag a friend and follow our account to be eligible to win the daily prize. Ten lucky people won daily prizes, including gift cards to a variety of SPR businesses, and other goodies like a basket of treats from Ben’s Meats & Deli or a pet basket from Doggy Style Deli! Each person who entered a challenge was eligible to win the SPR Prize Pack at the end of the campaign.

Overall, the Secrets of Stony Plain Road: Scavenger Challenge brought together Edmontonians to help support our Stony Plain Road & Area businesses! COVID-19 has brought many struggles for businesses all over the city over the last six months and we would like to thank everyone who participated and supported these businesses. We hope that by bringing awareness to the businesses on Stony Plain Road, people will see the charm that our businesses have and will continue to shop SPR!

The Stony Plain Road & Area BIA would also like to extend a thank you to the following businesses for supporting our shop local initiative:

• Ben’s Meats & Deli
• Celebrate Gluten Free
• The Gilded Rabbit
• Variant Edition
• Neo Juicery
• Cafe Neo
• The Flag Shop
• One Stop Biker Shop
• Square One Coffee
• Little Village
• Teachable Moments Daycare & OSC
• London Drugs
• Jasmine Nails & Lash Bar
• Arctic Car Wash