Project: Make It Northwest
Client: NWDA
NWDA had a thorny question: How do you get young people to take seriously something they have zero interest in? In this instance, the North West Manufacturing Strategy revealed a stark shortfall in the number of graduates and school leavers interested in manufacturing as a career. Just as importantly they lacked the right skills and qualifications to join the sector.
In short, manufacturing needed an intense image make-over.
Junction K focused on the young audience. A market research programme identified the attitudes towards: manufacturing, web use, degree and career choices - of 14-19 year olds.
We realised we’d generate most interest by focusing on products that the target groups identified with. Trainers and iPods etc. provided a great route into revealing how they were developed and produced.
With the ‘hook’ identified, we built the website and specified the content – some of which we commissioned from other suppliers. Critically, though, just improving the image wasn’t enough. We had to steer any interest to an effective call-to-action, so a new section was designed to convert interest into action. It led users towards further education or work place opportunities – this was linked to at strategic points across the site.
Developing the site was challenging, but perhaps a bigger obstacle lay in getting the audience to look at it – at least without a massive marketing budget. We decided to work with existing channels – teachers and careers advisors. By providing the site as a teaching support, we could ensure that the site was exposed to tens of thousands of young people.
A curriculum mapping exercise is followed by a highly-targeted marketing campaign. The initial reaction has been overwhelming. By June 2010 we will have connected with 500 schools, 2500 teachers, 800 careers advisors and 100,000 young people.
As a result we’re laying the seeds for the Northwest - birth place of the industrial revolution - to continue a proud tradition, albeit in a highly-modern context, with a steady stream of properly-skilled entrants.