Elevate Your Life – Regional Talent Attraction Campaign

Please view the Attraction Campaign here.

Purpose:

With Windsor-Essex forecasted to have the strongest economic growth across Canada and one of the fastest growing EV supply chains in the North America, it is critical to ensure an adequate and skilled workforce to sustain the momentum.

As part of the region’s comprehensive talent attraction strategy to address this need, the Invest WindsorEssex Marketing and Communications team launched a comprehensive marketing campaign promoting the vast job opportunities available in the growing EV sector as well as the desired quality of life the region has to offer.

Effectiveness:

The overall campaign was very successful resulting in thousands of high-quality leads. The campaign was launched in coordination with our Talent Attraction Specialist’s activities and strategy including promotion around career fairs, conferences and trade shows across Ontario. Campaign landing page: ChooseWindsorEssex.com

Page views: 20,306

Social and paid search (META, LinkedIn, Google):

Phase 1: Reach 586,587; Impressions 2,507,939; Clicks 15,674

Phase 2: Reach 332,824; Impressions 1,252,91; Clicks 5,611

Phase 3: Reach 119,582; Impressions 198,196; Clicks 5,322

Challenges and Changes:

One of the major challenges facing employers currently is having access to an adequate and skilled workforce. Therefore, talent attraction has become a major focus for many communities across Ontario as well as Canda. For Windsor-Essex specifically, talent attraction and retention are critical to support the vast amount of investment in the region as well as to ensure local industry has the workforce needed to operate at full capacity.

This provides a challenge as competition with other regions is at an all-time high and therefore a successful campaign must showcase why opportunities in a select region (such as Windsor-Essex, Ont.) stand out above the rest.

For the Windsor-Essex talent attraction campaign it was critical to highlight:

1. Unique opportunities in electric vehicle production including high-tech jobs in an innovative and rapidly progressing field.

2. Quality of life – Windsor-Essex provides its residents with 160 km of beautiful shoreline along Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. The region offers lakefront living, temperate climate and small-city lifestyle with big-city amenities.

3. Affordable – Windsor-Essex is still one of the most affordable places in Ontario to live. The region also has one of the lowest worker commute times in Canada, with easy access to major transportation routes.

4. Strategic location – Windsor-Essex is well-known as a two-nation destination, with even more offerings available a short hop away across the Windsor-Detroit border.

The campaign strategy included a phased approach to ensure maximum reach. The campaign KPIs were monitored regularly, and changes and updated messaging were implemented as needed to target groups based on overall performance.

Target Audience:

Geo Location: Targeting individuals across Ontario: Toronto, Waterloo, Brampton, Hamilton, London, Simcoe, Durham, St. Catherines, Windsor-Essex (areas chosen based on labour market analysis – selecting areas with high location quotient for EV and related industries, areas the offer post-secondary education programs relevant to the EV industry and areas that have high unemployment.

Target Personas: Individuals interested in EV related opportunities that do not currently work in related industries, recent graduates, individuals with experience in a technical/professional role across related industries, individuals with experience in a skilled labour role across related industries.

Target specific job titles: Computer and information sciences and support services, engineering, science technologies/technicians

Phase 1: GENERAL AWARENESS – promote Windsor-Essex as a region on the rise. Main focus will be on the growth of the EV sector but will also promote quality of life and some of the infrastructure projects going on.

Phase 2: FOCUS ON STUDENT/EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS – target students with specific majors and universities/colleges who have educational programs tailored to the EV sector.

Phase 3: FOCUS ON TECHNICAL PROSPECTS – target individuals who have the training and skills to transition to the EV sector.

Further Project Details:

*Please refer to supporting documents for further campaign details, creative and content.