The project, being developed by the city council for about $20,000, includes photographic essays on a day in the week of seven local residents, covering various facets of the region.

The council’s business support manager Tanya Egan said it was believed to be the first time any government or local government agency had used the approach.

“We wanted to throw the net as widely as we could in a seven-day period, covering as many aspects as we could showing why Warrnambool is such a wonderful place to live,” Ms Egan said.

“It is in the trial stage with more to be added and has gained favourable feedback. We wanted to create a promotional tool so employers wanting to attract new workers could point them to this to see what life in Warrnambool looks like. I think it would be one of the best in Australia.”

So far the web-based development, which is linked to Facebook, has sections dedicated to eating out and learning.

By Easter another section on working-investing is expected to be added with the last topic on living to come later in the year.

“We’ve done it with our own resources and hired the services of local photographer Glen Watson,” she said.

“It’s visually stimulating with links to various sections that people will want to know about.

“For the eating section we had close to 60 restaurants and eating places involved in providing details of their outlets.

“We also produced a complementary fold-out pocket guide.”

The Wonderful Warrnambool logo and artwork was produced by Tasmania-based company Groupwork, which won a contract for the project.

Ms Egan deflected criticism of it being done by a non-local business, saying the design was a collaboration between local and interstate professionals.

“Work to further develop the branding was done by local company Genr8, local photographer Glen Watson and the design company that works in conjunction with Groupworks.”

pcollins@standard.fairfax.com. au