16623423 - 0001 - ITAC - Career Ready Program Marketing

The TECHNATION Career Ready Program is seeking a consultancy for the development and implementation of a national outreach/awareness campaign to draw employers to use the wage subsidy it provides, and of the benefits in providing co-op/internship opportunities to Canadian students.

The agency will be required to plan a complete and robust integrated national marketing and communications campaign – with a metrics and results driven strategy to support Career Ready objectives.

Timing: June 2020 (or sooner) – October 2021 (approximately 15 months)

• • Phase I (June 2020 – January 2021)
    • 3300 student placements program target
  • Phase II (January 2021 – October 2021)
    • 5000 student placements program target

1. 1. Provide wage subsidies to employers hiring students (co-op or internship)
   2. Fund approximately 9000 student placements between Summer of 2020 and Winter of 2022
   3. Increase the amount of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) experiences in the Canadian ecosystem
   4. Expand the tech talent workforce to provide for current and future skills shortages in 4 Priority Labour Market Areas (PLMAs)
      1. Traditional tech/ICT roles (software engineering, IT services)
      2. Artificial Intelligence
      3. Cybersecurity
      4. Hybrid (Roles in digital workforce suited for Arts/Humanities/Business students; digital marketing, tech writing/recruiting, design/development, etc.)

1. Primary Target – Employers (demand) who hire post-secondary students
2. Secondary Target – Employers who might hire a post-secondary student, and where a subsidy is an incentive
3. Tertiary Target – Eligible post-secondary students (supply) who are looking for employment; can be used as a competitive advantage   

1. Substantially increase the number of requests for wage subsidy we receive
2. The overarching campaign should highlight TECHNATION as a national leader in Future Workforce Development in leading edge Tech Skills
3. Promote WIL as a strategic method to scale business operations while developing Canada’s future digital workforce, and Career Ready as a key vehicle which enables that
4. Promote a cultural shift whereby post-secondary students do not have to rely on a traditional summer job in industries irrelevant to their field of studies – rather, it ought to be the norm in Canada to have a meaningful experiential learning opportunity - especially over summer (for coop students and non-coop)
5. Enable target audiences to learn more, understand how to participate and comprehend the process (e.g. the process is simple, not intimidating or out of reach)
6. Campaign presence nationally, with enhanced presence in British-Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec (bi-lingual necessary)
7. New, interesting and beautiful marketing collateral to help us hit our placements targets while reducing volume of inquiries