Legislature Funds Client Program 20 Times Previous Year

The University of Alaska (UA) received legislative funds more than 20 times the previous years’ allocation for Workforce Development, thanks to a targeted trust:works communications campaign.

Challenge

The state legislature had little understanding of UA’s massive Workforce Training role, assuming this education was mostly delivered by vo-techs and community colleges. In fact, one-third of the 500 programs offered at the UA fit the criteria for the state's high demand job areas.¹

Strategic trust:works Insight

A trust:works assessment showed a need for new messaging to legislators focused on technical competence, reliability and brand identification. To that end, we reframed what “workforce training” meant, demonstrating UA’s role as the state’s largest source of educated workers. A key take-away was the annual graduation of thousands of ready-for-hire workers adept in business, engineering, health sciences, construction management and education.

The Nerland Solution

An interruptive brave:works creative solution humanized the brand and got the attention of busy legislators. Nerland direct mailed a series of five bobblehead dolls, christened “Career Transformers,” to legislators and business leaders around the state. The dolls represented several UA Workforce Development disciplines: nurse, construction engineer, teacher, etc., with the theme: “Workforce Training is Serious Fun.”

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