The Challenge
An aging workforce, combined with negative perceptions regarding skilled trades careers, was contributing to a potentially critical shortage of skilled trades people within the Canadian economy. This issue was predicted to escalate significantly, with forecasts of a shortage of nearly one million skilled workers by 2020. In response, a joint initiative was created by Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage (CAF-FCA) and Skills/Compétences Canada (S/CC) to promote skilled trades careers over a three-year period.
The Solution
APCO Worldwide, working with CAF-FCA and S/CC, developed a multi-year, pan-Canadian social marketing campaign. The objectives were to change the attitudes and behaviour of youth and their influencers – including parents and educators – regarding skilled trades careers, as well as to encourage employers to take a more active role through hiring more apprentices. To accomplish these objectives, APCO carried out the following:
- Qualitative & quantitative research, which helped benchmark perceptions
- Creation of a bilingual advertising and public awareness campaign, including advertising, promotional materials and a Web site
- Development of content, design and production of collateral materials, including an employer toolkit, educator’s guide and guide to apprenticeship
- Development of an evaluation approach to measure performance against objectives
- Media relations activities to launch the campaign and ensure continuous coverage of skilled trades issues
- Promotion of industry and opinion leaders to give profile to the issues and the campaign
- Partnership and employer-focused initiatives to disseminate campaign messages
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The Result
Quantitative research emphasized the success of the campaign, reporting that over half of the targeted youth audience recalled the advertising, almost two-thirds of whom said they were more likely to consider a career in
skilled trades as a result of the ads. In addition, the campaign led to extensive mainstream media and trade press coverage, with over 200 million impressions recorded through national television, newspaper, magazine and radio exposure. The ads also appeared on over 500 theatre screens in cinemas across Canada, and almost half a million visitors accessed the campaign Web site. Additionally, over one million copies of campaign resources were ordered by partners across Canada. APCO also secured over C$4 million in cash equivalent and in-kind contributions from major corporations.
Services Provided
- Coalition building
- Creative services
- Media relations
- Online communication
- Opinion research
- Positioning
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The APCO team was an enthusiastic partner and they worked tirelessly with our Steering Committee to develop a groundbreaking and very effective campaign. APCO’s understanding of our objectives, coupled with their varied areas of expertise, resulted in the development and delivery of a multi-faceted program with a clear and consistent focus across the communication, partnership, research and outreach activities. The results are clear – the campaign was a winner! It was a pleasure to work with the APCO team of dedicated professionals, and they are my first-choice option for quality.
