Community Transit's Video and Digital Advertising to Recruit Mechanics

Target Audience: Local diesel mechanics in Snohomish and neighboring counties who engage with content primarily through digital channels, across all devices.

Strategy Objective:Our strategy was to emphasize in our messaging what truly matters most to our target audience: career stability, a reliable retirement pension plan, diverse work opportunities, skill development, high-quality standards, and a state-of-the-art work environment. To make the ads stand out even more, we incorporated a design element that evoked a sense of familiarity, nostalgia, authenticity, and strong recognition within the mechanic community—the embroidered uniform "patch". We aimed to combine messaging that resonates well and a visual element that can be instantly recognized by the mechanic audience and folks who work in the trades.

Situation Challenge: Hiring journey-level diesel mechanics has become increasingly challenging as interest in trade careers continue to decline among younger generations. Several automotive trade schools in the area have also closed their doors since the pandemic due to low enrollment and instructor shortages, which further limits the pool of qualified applicants to fill this role.

Results Impact: To date, we have seen the following performance results: o We've served almost 900,000 impressions to our target audience o A consistent listen thru rate MoM of 98.4% + o A consistent video completion rate MoM of 98.1% + o Over 5,100 direct clicks o 15,707 landing page views o 302 total job applications o In addition to these metrics, we've seen a noticeable increase in awareness about this role and general interest in Community Transit's open positions overall.

Why Submit: These ads deserve recognition for its thoughtful strategic approach, combining unique, compelling messaging with strong visual designs that drove results in a highly competitive job market. The clever use of a mechanic "patch" added great authenticity and relatability, and did an excellent job capturing the hardworking spirit of our tradesmen and women. These elements came beautifully together and helped shape winning campaign ads that were well received by the local mechanic community.