Office students are on top of it – here's how we break down prejudices and spread awareness of the program

Task

There is a shortage of skilled labor and students for vocational training. This also applies to office training. Dropout rates are on the rise and few know about the training (for the right thing).

That’s why HK, Danish Industry, the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Local Government Denmark, the Ministry of Finance and Danish Regions wanted to launch a multi-year branding and recruitment campaign for the office training program in 2021 to raise awareness of the program and the many career opportunities it provides access to.

Solution

Prior to the development and launch of the campaign, we conducted extensive research among schools, students and workplaces across Denmark. They pointed out, among other things, that the office students who thrive best in the program have key traits in common: they are ambitious, structured and take pride in being ‘on top of it’.

That’s why the campaign targets young people aged 15-35 who love structure and order and who can see themselves in the type of person who makes it all work. We communicate with relevant, relatable content inspired by current trends to break down preconceptions about the office profession (and give it a true face); we show that office training opens doors to a wide range of career opportunities and that office students are ambitious, an indispensable part of any workplace and the ones who make the wheels turn.

Under the heading “Are you on top of it? Become an office student’, the campaign was rolled out in October 2023 and is still running; it includes an informative campaign website and an active social media presence. The campaign is advertised periodically via, for example, outdoor, cinema and streaming, it is present at education fairs, it collaborates with relevant media and ambassadors, and we regularly involve schools in the dissemination of the campaign.

Result

The campaign appeals to the target audience and delivers its key messages in a clear and concise way, according to the concrete results. The campaign site is also indexed on Google and ranks number 1 for the most relevant keywords. In the first month of the campaign, we reached approximately 1.2 million young people on Instagram and Facebook out of an estimated total target audience of 1.58 million. Since then, we have reached even more.

Our latest postal survey shows changes in reputation and an increase in awareness of the program – with more people indicating that office training could be for them.