BC Agri-food Centre Project
Video Documentaries - Brief

Overview

To support the development of the BC Agri-food Centre, the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands has engaged an outside consulting firm to provide strategic counsel and communications and marketing services, in conjunction with the BC Food Processors Association and other members of the Centre’s Steering Committee.

Funded in part by Canada’s federal-provincial-territorial initiative Growing Forward, and the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, the BC Agri-food Centre will drive innovation in product commercialization by linking organizations in the agri-food value chain to best practice resources and solutions across the province. It will help to germinate ideas by understanding needs and connecting people and organizations with the expertise and resources that will bring those ideas to fruition.

As part of the development phase of the Centre, the consulting firm will work with the BCFPA and other Steering Committee members to produce a series of 6- to 10-minute video shorts that will document the journey select agri-food companies around the province have taken to bring new products to market.

These video documentaries will be featured on the Centre’s website when it goes live later this year, and used in other marketing contexts. The videos will communicate the challenges BC-based agri-food producers face in commercializing new products. They will also celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit of the featured company and the collaborations it forged, and how the efforts of all involved resulted in successfully bringing innovative new products to the BC – and worldwide – market.

The Project Need
Alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and the Steering Committee, BCFPA is seeking BC-based agri-food producers that have recently introduced, or are in the final stages of bringing a new product to market.

The ideal candidate companies will be able and willing to discuss the following:

• Background about your organization
• Background about your expertise – how much experience do you and your team have in introducing new products to the market?
• How did the idea for a new product come about? What prompted it? (e.g. market trend, consumer demand, competitive issue, etc.)
• What where the challenges in bringing it to market?
• When did you need to turn to outside experts and collaborative partners, and how did you source them?
• How valuable was this outside expertise in the success of your commercialization goals?
• How would a solution like the BC Agri-food Centre have improved the journey you experienced? (e.g. expedited the process, saved money, eased information gathering, uncovered valuable relationships, increased efficiencies)
• What is the greatest lesson learned? Proudest moment?

What to Expect
To create these videos, the consulting firm will need to bring a small (two- to three-person) video crew to your facilities to gather footage and interview you and potentially some of your staff. Every effort will be made to minimize the impact the video production process might have on your time and your operations.

To that end, as much upfront planning will occur as possible, before the video crew arrives at your facility. The planning includes:

• First briefly interview you over the phone to familiarize you with the process, gather the salient points of your story and discuss when and how best to gather footage
• Develop an outline that captures the top-level details of your story
• Create a script that adds detail to that outline
• Mock up a storyboard to create a visual representation of how the story will look
• Deliver a set of interview questions so you’re familiar with the information and comments we’d like to gather from you when the tape starts to roll

For the shoot itself, the crew may capture all the footage it needs in a few hours, or require two or more trips to interview you, select staff, consultants and/or partners, and to capture footage of your facilities.

When footage is gathered, the crew will:

• Be sensitive to your time pressures and use your time efficiently
• Follow your direction and any restrictions with regards to sensitive or competitive information, product development and processing details, and facility health and safety regulations
• Shoot re-takes if you’ve misspoke, or are in any way uncomfortable with what you’ve said or how you’ve said it
• Ensure you sign a release form that gives the Steering Committee permission to use the footage in context with its marketing efforts for the BC Agri-food Centre
• To ensure you’re comfortable with how your story is presented, we will provide you with a rough cut of the edited video, before it goes to post-production, giving you the opportunity to review the video prior to it being finalized and used in Centre marketing efforts.

Expected Time Commitment
The BCFPA and the consulting firm both understand your first priority is running your business. As such, every effort will be made to minimize the time required from you. Below are anticipated guidelines for your potential time commitment.

 *through Track Changes feature in MS Word, if possible
‡ Activity could be completed by an assistant or colleague
 

Other considerations: The set up can be done with you accompanying the crew throughout the process, or with initial input from you or a member of your team, depending on your comfort level in having the video crew unaccompanied in your business premises. Although the consulting firm prefers that video shoots occur within your facility under normal operating circumstances, you may also choose to clean up/clear areas of tools, equipment, visual distractions, etc., such that you present a certain image/message. Similarly, when shoots are set up, the aim is to create interesting imagery that complements the story, and the crew may work with you to create surroundings that help us achieve that goal.

Benefit of Participating
When the video is complete and the BC Agri-food Centre website is operational later this year, we will post the video documentaries on the site for visitors to view. Similarly, the videos may be used in other marketing efforts, such as presentations and seminars attended by Centre Steering Committee members. Each of these scenarios gives your leadership story exposure, demonstrating your entrepreneurship and presenting your company as innovative and competitive. 

You will also be provided with copies of the finished video in DVD and digital formats, to use in your own marketing efforts.

For more information, please contact:
Nico Human, Executive Director
BC Food Processors Association
604 504 4409
nico@bcfpa.ca