STUDENTS from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are driving logistics recruitment via marketing campaigns for Pall-Ex.
The palletised freight network challenged students to help tackle skills shortage, with a live brief to promote careers in the logistics sector to young people aged 16 to 24, including women and all communities.
The students worked in teams to develop creative ideas for marketing and social media advertising by the firm.
Through a digital pitching process, the winning campaign came from ‘Sterling Group’, of four students.
Their ‘Whatever the Weather’ campaign looked to utilise Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill as a strong female role model to inspire young women to train as HGV drivers, noting early starts, dedication and hard work as key parallels.
Other strong creative ideas included ‘No Normal Day’, highlighting the variety of opportunities open to HGV drivers, and ‘Lorry Share’, a spoof of Peter Kay’s BBC series, Car Share.
Abby Langley, Pall-Ex marketing manager commented: ‘We were really impressed with the high calibre of the campaigns presented and the ideas they put forward to meet the brief.
‘Recruiting young people into logistics is a key topic of discussion, so it is refreshing to see new ideas put forward by young people themselves.
‘There are some inspiring creatives here that we can develop into actionable campaigns in the future.’
The project was inspired by the logistics industry’s driver shortage, caused by an ageing workforce and lack of recruitment amongst young people; just 1% of HGV drivers in the UK are aged under 25, according to research from workers’ union Unite, compared to 13% who are over 60.
The industry is the UK’s fifth largest employer, stressed Pall-Ex.
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