Trades Make More

Did you know carpenters earn $100k after 3 years in the job?

Neither did we until we got the brief for Unitec's latest integrated campaign for Applied Technology courses. It's a great story and one worth telling.

Unitec, which has an in-house design studio but no advertising agency, came to The Pond for strategy and above-the-line concepts that highlighted the potential earnings of people in trades, broke down the barriers (and prejudices) often associated with being a tradesman and generated enrolment enquiries.

What Phil, Richard and Leighton came up with was a campaign based on the simple idea that 'trades make more'.

The various Applied Technology departments constructed the typography of the 3D billboards from typical trade materials including pipes, timber framing and electrical wires. The print executions mirrored the billboards. And the 15" radio ads were nice little attention-grabbers that played on an obvious double meaning.

Requests for Unitec enrolment packs as well as calls to its information centre have since increased by 15-20% and website visits to the trade course information pages have doubled. That's the most important thing but it was also good to see the billboards make it onto Best Ads weekly top six for outdoor advertising.