THE CHALLENGE: Believe it or not, the average age of the U.S. construction worker is 47 and rising. Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates it will take 240,000 workers a year to replace the ones leaving, and for every 14 who retire, only one newcomer is stepping in. Looking ahead and seeing a paralyzing shortage of journeymen, our client decided it was time to do something. Enter Coates Kokes.

THE APPROACH: Our background research unearthed some underlying issues perpetuating this problem. For starters, perception outside the industry was poor and even would-be recruits were being misled to believe that construction was a dangerous, low-wage, dead-end career. Another issue was stifling competition from the U.S. military’s advertising and recruiters. Lastly, we also discovered little was being done by other entities to promote a career in construction, especially online where our target is spending much of its time.

THE WORK: With all that in mind, we fashioned an authentic and engaging campaign with a focused effort on a medium relevant to our audience—the Internet. We developed an interactive and informative site (getconstructive.com) that functions as both a recruitment and industry-image building tool. We attack industry myths head on by providing information about salary, growth potential, lifestyle, education, apprenticeships and more. Strong imagery and pointed headlines speak directly to our target and reposition the industry in a more positive and accurate light. To drive traffic to the site, we placed eye-grabbing display ads on carefully geo-targeted online channels of interest and implemented an online search campaign.

THE RESULTS: The online search and display campaign is currently exceeding our stated goals and getconstructive.com is garnering national attention as a leading go-to source.