BRAED Innovates through the Battle River Online Festival
Collectively, Alberta’s Battle River Alliance for Economic Development (BRAED) is proving that you can do more, together, when you embrace innovation.
As an organization, BRAED is constantly on the lookout for innovation opportunities, recently testing out a new, custom solution for online engagement to convert local business loyalty.
Outcomes of the organization's spring 2026 Battle River Online Festival not only left an innovation impact, but also results including:
85% of participants reporting that the festival delivered increased optimism for their small business or organization.
85% reporting the festival was a significant win for encouraging more visitation and small business support for the region.
“It shows that when we partner, we can exceed expectations,” explains BREAD’s Executive Director Caroline McAuley.
“For example, with the over 140,000 video views from this online festival that our region saw, we could never have been able to do that on our own," she states.
"Partnering with Seekers Media, Linda Hoang and seeing funding from our partners (including Community Futures, Beaver and Flagstaff Counties, and the County of Paintearth) and the participating 19 businesses and organizations who took part, really made this all work. We exceeded expectations all around here.”
How did the BRAED online festival deliver results?
The Battle River Online Festival happened through April and May 2026. During that time, small businesses within this region of Alberta (southeast of Edmonton) were coached on the art of using their smartphone to generate videos about why they do what they do as a business or organization.
Like a music festival, an appearance schedule was released, and these participants went live on their Facebook page at a set time, with their lives being promoted by FestivalSeekers, Linda Hoang, the counties and by BRAED’s social media channels and websites.
TABLE: survey responses from participants, regarding benefits of social media coaching for their businesses
“The Battle River Online Festival generated so much awareness of this part of the world from outside of our region,” says McAuley.
“From these businesses and organizations who took part we saw a significant increase in innovation and new ideas that then became known across Canada. The experience really helped put us on the map in a bigger and better way.”
Seekers Media’s concept of an online festival was born in April 2020 as an innovative response to COVID, supporting small businesses who were challenged to “get their word out” when much of our economy ground to a halt.
It’s still a very effective solution today, given how important online reputation management has become for small businesses.
Next to the results above, other outcomes of the Battle River Online Festival included:
Participating business experiencing a 10 to 25% increase in sales compared to the same time last year.
One community experiencing a 25% increase in event attendance compared to the same time last year.
A variety of different product launches and innovations across many of the participants' businesses, working off newfound confidence.
TABLE 2: survey responses from participants, on their confidence continuing to use the tools and training they received
The Battle River online festival is one of 17 digital readiness training programs (online festivals) produced by Seekers Media since 2020. The outcomes have all been the similar:
an immediate increase in sales
sizable increases in entrepreneur confidence
new-found collaboration across the community
To see your own community celebrate its awesomeness through an online festival, simply reach out today to @email and we can get you on your way to some innovative success.