Island Good is here to stay!

 

… a campaign to help shoppers identify locally sourced food products. Look for the Island Good logo on products and in stores across Vancouver island.

 

With a focus on the food and beverage value chain, the Island Good brand is now available to be used by licensees at point of sale, in product packaging and on all promotional and advertising vehicles (signage, websites, social media, etc.)

 

Island-based (included Gulf Islands) producers, processors, distributors and retailers are welcome to complete and submit the license application and licensing agreement available at islandgood.ca along with the appropriate annual fee (scaled to the size of your business). Once approved, licensees have full use of the Island Good logo to help raise consumer awareness and increase sales.

Benefits also include:

  • VIEA will commit 75% of license revenues to supporting the Island Good brand;
  • Island Good is proven effective at point of sale. Expanded retail exposure combined with producers applying Island Good to packaging and product promotions will help deepen consumer brand awareness and product loyalty;
  • The Island Good website (islandgood.ca) will profile licensees;
  • VIEA may offer Island Good co-op advertising opportunities from time-to-time;
  • VIEA members are eligible for a 20% discount on the annual Island Good licensing fee.

What the Island Good pilot taught us:

  1. Islanders are predisposed to shop local. Island Good makes it easier for them to find and purchase Island Products;
  2. Tourists are predisposed to seek and try local products. Island Good makes it possible for them to find and purchase Island products;
  3. Consumers demonstrate loyalty to those producing or carrying Island products helping lead to repeat sales;
  4. Island Good has proven to increase consumer engagement with retailers and has shown improved response to in-store product demonstrations when consumers can see that the products are Island Good;
  5. Island Good is ‘feel good’ and consumers respond positively because it’s all about comfort—knowing the local sources of the foods we eat, and satisfaction—supporting local producers. And since VIEA’s sole objective is to help grow market share for Island businesses—It’s all good!

The Backstory

If you were to prepare a meal using only food products grown, produced or manufactured on Vancouver Island, what would you include? How about meals all day or food for an entire week?

That challenge was undertaken by the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance (VIEA). VIEA decided to serve only foods that are made or grown on Vancouver Island at a luncheon it was hosting. A board member was given a budget and given the task of purchasing foods for the event. What seemed like a simple enough task, turned into a scavenger hunt as the VIEA shopper combed the shelves and display cases of local grocery stores for Island food products. The products could be found on grocery shelves, but a great deal of diligence and label reading was required to source those goods.

That exercise was made easier with the launch of the ‘Island Good’ point of sale campaign in 2018 championed by our four retail partners Country Grocer, Quality Foods, Thrifty Foods, and 49th Parallel.

Island Good launched across Vancouver Island in March 2018.

Vancouver Islanders believe in local, want to shop local, source local, and eat locally sourced food. Local Vancouver Island food products are easy to find on grocery shelves. Shoppers are able to identify Island Good options by looking for the colorful Island Good shelf messaging. As Islanders make more Island Good choices in their shopping, we think increased demand will lead to increased production, more jobs and more production capacity as shopping dollars stay on Vancouver Island to support Island growers, producers and grocers.

Look for the Island Good tags in our partner grocery stores. Enjoy local food and support our local economy. We’ll all be good. Island Good!

Island Good Food Facts
In fact, VIEA’s annual Economic Report for Vancouver Island in 2015 showed that while the Canadian economy is 70% services and 30% goods, the Island economy is 80% services and only 20% goods. Our present focus on food production is only the tip of the ice berg.

Our ultimate goal is to have every product from potatoes to airplane parts marked ‘Island Good’.

Food and beverage products represented an easily understood starting point for Island Good branding. Advocating for a point of sale pilot project to promote Island made products already carried in the stores of major grocery retailers was an effective starting point. Islanders love their Island and the food quality it offers. It’s ‘Island Good’.

By comparing same product, same store, same month sales activity from March-September 2018 to the same period in 2017, Island Good demonstrated the effect of improved product awareness by increasing sales of Island products by an average of 16.36% in 45 Island grocery stores over six months.

 Now food growers and producers are marking their products as ‘Island Good’to further promote the brand and build demand.

Foodies, consumers, retailers, grocers, importers and investors across the Island and BC, throughout Canada and around the world will see products and product packaging marked ‘Island Good’ as a trusted brand. This enhances the profile of Vancouver Island as a great travel experience, followed by seeing The Island as a place to safely invest, nurture innovation and grow business. That growth means export trade expansion to short and long distance markets, and better balance, diversity and resilience within our Island economy.

We think this is good.

‘Island Good’.

How about you?
Other Economic Alliance Initiatives
1st annual VIEA Business Match Victoria March 11-13, 2019
Foreign Trade Zone Vancouver Island (FTZVI) announced September 2018
Foreign Direct Investment Business Case Portfolio completed December 2018
Waste Wood Recovery & Fire Hazard Mitigation Pilot Project TDB 2019
13th Annual 'State of the Island' Economic Summit October 23/24, 2019
4th Annual 'State of the Island' Economic Report on sale now. 5th annual Report to be released October 2019
Funding & Retail Partners

Island Good started as a pilot project to monitor consumer interest and support for local products. Island Good is good for our Island economy, good for our Island communities, good for the families whose livelihood will benefit, good for developing food security, and good for our pride in Island products and Island businesses. It’s all “Island Good”!

VIEA’s Island Good project is a success because of the enthusiastic participation of four major grocery retailers in the pilot project: Thrifty Foods, Country Grocer, Quality Foods and 49th Parallel Grocery and the following organizations helped fund the 2018 Pilot Project.

  • Vancouver Island Economic Alliance
  • Island Coastal Economic Trust
  • Hothouse Marketing
  • Spark Strategic Group
  • B&C Foods
  • BC Salmon Farmers Association
  • Hertel’s Meats Ltd.
  • Paradise Island Foods
  • Portofino European Bakery
  • Saputo Inc.
  • Vancouver Island Farm Products Inc.
The Contest

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Contact VIEA
  • islandgood@viea.ca
  • 250-667-5225
  • Mailing Address: 
    PO. Box 76, Station ‘A’
    Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5K4

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