Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

Challenge

ESDC was fighting against the perception of the skilled trades as a backup plan, rather than as a rewarding first-choice career. Audiences also had low awareness of the great support tools, resources, and funding opportunities offered by the Government of Canada for those entering the trades.

Many trained tradespeople were heading to retirement, and according to the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, from 2022 to 2026, 256,000 new apprentices would need to be recruited to keep up with demand. However, new annual registrations in Red Seal trade programs had fallen to 44,100, the lowest number since 2000. Demand was high, pay was stable, and support structures were in place, but in order to attract young job seekers, ESDC needed help changing the public perception of these important careers.

Solution

Our Made By Skilled Trades campaign inspired audiences to look around and see how much of the world is made by tradespeople. It started with a simple idea: if you walk down the street, you’ll pass a hundred things that exist because of these careers. So, we decided to place billboards right on buildings, bridges, and other structures, proudly declaring that they were “Made By Skilled Trades.” Video and social media outputs followed to highlight an even wider variety of things made by trades.

The campaign positioned the trades as careers with influence over the world. Yes, many are labour-intensive, but they also offer the rare opportunity to point at something and say, “I made that.” This helped build a connection with younger audiences who wanted to make a difference in the world but had previously considered a digital career.

The final piece of the campaign was a travelling experiential activation, which gamified five different priority trades. Participants could install piping in the rooms of a wooden house, try VR metal fabricating, cook a meal with props, work on a control panel, and digitally service a car. Each activity successfully highlighted the satisfying hands-on experience of the trades and showed audiences that they could find careers using practical skills that already interested them.

Results

The Made By Skilled Trades campaign was a huge success across all approaches. Overall, it generated 267,872 website visits, a 69% increase compared to the 23/24 daily average. On social, Snapchat was a valuable tactic, generating 40% of those web visits, with 29,000 during a 1-day ad takeover. The out-of-home billboards generated 61M impressions thanks to the specialized placements, and the campaign video saw 23.3M views with an average completion rate of 87.78%. 

Meanwhile, the Made By Skilled Trades XM experience successfully activated across 12 high schools and 2 malls in 8 Canadian cities. It engaged almost 12,000 participants and gained 70,000 impressions, 317% more than anticipated. The overall attendee sentiment was overwhelmingly positive, with many expressing excitement and a new interest in the trades, praising the experience for helping audiences connect with trades on a more personal and practical level.