Innovation Newsletter

Outline your brand statement
Avenue is Calgary’s premier lifestyle magazine. It features the best of what Calgary has to offer – from arts and fashion, to interior design, to food – connecting communities and telling engaging stories about the people and issues that shape our city.

What innovation project have you seen through in the last three year period?
Avenue’s Innovation newsletter, which launched in January 2024. It was created to complement our annual print innovation issue and innovation event, both of which have been running since 2020.

What problem were you trying to solve?
At the time we launched the newsletter, there wasn’t a dedicated innovation news outlet in Calgary that was profiling local founders (to our knowledge). Existing publications focused more on events, fundraising announcements and other general tech news. Innovation and tech can sometimes seem like complex topics that are difficult to understand because of evolving language and jargon. Therefore there can be a barrier to entry for people outside of the “tech” industry bubble, including Avenue readers who may not have the same opportunity to learn about the burgeoning scene in Calgary.

Describe the Outcome
The Innovation newsletter has gained 3,462 email subscribers to date. So far, we’ve published 33 Innovator of the Week profiles to go in the newsletter, which have brought in more than 70K pageviews to Avenue’s website since the newsletter launched. We’ve also grown our interaction with readers by encouraging the public to nominate people to be featured in the Innovator of the Week column through an online form. To date, we have received more than 80 Innovator of the Week nominations.

The newsletter has contributed to Avenue’s efforts to promote Calgary’s innovation scene and brought year-round innovation coverage to our brand.

How did this support your brand?
The focus of Avenue’s innovation newsletter is a series called “Innovator of the Week” — a series of profiles about the local people, companies and organizations making waves in the tech and innovation sectors and moving the city forward. The newsletter also includes links to newsworthy content by other publications/companies on cutting-edge tech breakthroughs, local startups, medical advancements, city building initiatives, awards and funding.

This type of content and format reinforces our brand commitment to telling engaging stories about people who are helping shape our city. The Innovator of the Week content was also used to create Avenue’s first “Innovators of the Year” list for the May/June 2025 print innovation issue. It also supports the brand by complementing our annual print innovation issue/event. We’re building on that coverage and strengthening the brand’s presence covering that scene by taking our coverage year-round with the newsletter.

How did this project connect with your audience?
This newsletter has helped us highlight the stories of innovation and innovators rather than just reporting the news. The newsletter helped Avenue introduce more innovation and tech stories to our readers who may not be part of those industries and might not otherwise access these stories. It has also helped introduce and establish Avenue as a voice for innovation and tech stories in Calgary overall. We are one of just a handful of news sources routinely covering Calgary’s innovation industry.

We also encourage readers to nominate people to be featured in the Innovator of the Week column. To date, we have received more than 80 Innovator of the Week nominations.