Making the intensive training program for automotive technology more attractive for women – this was the task facing full-time students from the Bachelor’s Program in Corporate Communication in their business field project. The innovative communication concepts impressed the client Jugend am Werk.
The non-profit organization Jugend am Werk (JaW) offers unemployed women over the age of 18 years who have completed compulsory schooling the opportunity to complete an intensive training program as skilled workers in automotive technology with the financial support of AMS Vienna (employment service of the City of Vienna). In the winter semester of 2020/21, the full-time students from the Bachelor’s Program in Corporate Communications at FHWien der WKW were faced with a challenging task in a business field project with JaW: they were asked to come up with communication concepts that would get more women interested in the intensive training program for automotive technology and increase the number of applications for the apprenticeship.
After the briefing and the visit to the training center of Jugend am Werk, the six student teams were first faced with extensive research work, including “hard” desktop research on job profiles and labor market statistics. By means of SWOT analysis, the status quo of previous advertising content, both online and offline, was elicited and potential for improvement was identified. A comprehensive target group analysis led to attractive advertising messages via suitable advertising media and channels that were appropriate to the time and target group. The students were able to apply their acquired know-how and given free rein to their creativity in strategy and implementation. In addition, they not only drew up precise schedules, but also optimized the use of budgets.
Six teams six concepts: Activation & Attraction
Under the motto “Women into Technology”, provocative and humorous communication campaigns emerged. The focus was on storytelling & social media as well as a “brush-up” of previous advertising materials. In addition, the Bachelor’s students provided their clients with new ideas for marketing measures beyond the mainstream: Influencer marketing and attention-grabbing events in the sense of guerilla marketing were used to activate and attract the individual target groups. The teams scored points with effective slogans such as “Girls get it done” or “Sure, she can car!”. A well thought-out imagery also contributed to the emotionalization of the topic.
Clients full of enthusiasm
The enthusiasm of the clients after the final online presentation in December 2020 was great:
“Our expectations were more than exceeded, I am thrilled with the results! It really paid off, because there are a lot of ideas that can be implemented concretely“, says client Martina Garhofer, who supervises the training center socio-pedagogically, summarizing the concepts.
“I am mega-enthusiastic, the storytelling videos of the students have totally blown me away, sometimes even moved me to tears. There are so many great ideas in them!” enthuses client Claudia Schwarz, who is socio-pedagogical supervisor of the training center as well.
Wolfgang Bamberg, head of public relations at Jugend am Werk, is also full of praise for the creativity of the student teams: “There’s a lot of new stuff here. I’m sure we can use a lot of it in our future work!”
Academic Coordinator and Coach Martina Zöbl also congratulated the students on the successful completion of the business field project: “The particular challenge of this project was to achieve the greatest possible impact with a relatively small budget. In this respect, it was a very good exercise for the individual teams for their professional practice.“
The students have summarized their impressions from the business field project in a video (in German):
Please find examples of the creative campaigns using storytelling videos (in German) here:
>> Watch the video from Team “PRime“
>> Watch the video from Team “ComStudio“
Have we attracted your interest in the Bachelor’s Program in Corporate Communication?
Are you an entrepreneur looking for innovative high-impact communication strategies? Become a business field project partner of FHWien der WKW! Our Academic Coordinator Business Field Projects Martina Zöbl (martina.zoebl@fh-wien.ac.at) will be happy to inform you!