The Big Challenge:

Alabama's automotive industry was accelerating like never before, but perceptions of "plant work" as hot, dirty, labor-intensive roles with little upward mobility left the industry at the bottom of consideration lists for workers, graduates, and their influencers. Despite offering state-of-the-art facilities, competitive compensation, and significant growth opportunities, these modern manufacturing careers were misunderstood.

The Big Insight:

We recognized that successful recruitment requires more than making opportunities look attractive—it must help candidates overcome perceptual barriers. By positioning Alabama's automotive manufacturing as modern, progressive, and future-forward, we could elevate interest and showcase these careers as cutting-edge paths in an industry building tomorrow's vehicles.

How we went big:

We developed a brand and messaging strategy that repositioned Alabama as a worldwide leader in automotive manufacturing, emphasizing future-proof career paths with generous benefits and cutting-edge technologies. Our approach highlighted that the very industry that built America is being rebuilt in Alabama, requiring a completely new perspective on what these careers represent.

How we went bigger:

The five-month campaign launched in March 2022 across paid search, social media, YouTube, display, and ConnectedTV, with video and collateral assets driving applications to AIDT's career portal. We resumed in June 2023 with expanded targeting across Alabama and neighboring states to fill 11,000 available positions, significantly broadening our recruitment reach.

The Big Impact:

The campaign delivered transformative results: reaching 375% more unique devices, driving 110,490 unique website users in 2023 (200% year-over-year growth), generating 66,662 direct "xplore Opportunity" clicks from ads (81% growth), and achieving a 294% increase in total opportunity exploration clicks across the site.