February 1, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Martin
A. Kish
(502) 352-2485 - Office
(859) 351-8420 - Mobile
KAM Engages High School Students to Write Commercials for New State-wide Radio Campaign
Frankfort - The planned year-long campaign begins Monday, Feb. 4 and is designed to raise awareness of employment opportunities in the manufacturing industry, according to Jim LeMaster, President and CEO.
“We want to educate teens on the career opportunities in advanced manufacturing and encourage them to consider potential careers available,” says LeMaster. “We also want to make sure students, parents and teachers know and understand that to qualify for good advanced manufacturing jobs, students must at least graduate from high school, consider additional technical education, and be proficient in math and science
Connemara Group, a Louisville marketing agency, worked with KAM to produce the two 60-second spots. One spot features an exchange between a high school student and his parent. The second features two young advanced manufacturing workers talking about how “cool” their jobs are.
“We knew that we had to talk to students themselves to make sure the dialog truly reflected how teens talk today,” says Patti Naiser, president of Connemara. “But we took it one step further. We actually used students at Oldham County High School in Louisville to help write them.”
According to LeMaster, the campaign is in lock-step with industry needs.
“Our members have told us they must have an educated and skilled workforce pool in the future to ensure their long-term success in Kentucky,” LeMaster said. “Manufacturing is the number one contributor to the state's economy and we need to make sure students know about how important they are for our future and how great manufacturing careers can be for theirs.”
LeMaster says manufacturing contributes $27 billion to the gross state product, $100 billion in sales and 260,00 well-paying jobs with health insurance and other benefits.
“In addition to the threat of competition from low wage countries, manufacturers are faced with an aging workforce and the challenge to raise interest in manufacturing careers. There is an immediate threat to our industry and, therefore, an immediate threat to Kentucky’s economy,” said LeMaster. “Our marketing strategies this year address this challenge.”
“We have partnered with the Connemara Group in our MarketKentuckySM initiative. We are very pleased with the creative approach and the input Connemara received by reaching out to local students to ensure their effectiveness,” said Martin A. Kish, KAM’s vice president of marketing, revenue and communications. “The campaign they have designed will begin to change how high school students, parents and teachers think about careers in manufacturing and will change the outdated perception of working in the manufacturing industry.”
The spots will air in all 120 counties across the state on over 92 stations. “This aggressive campaign is just what we need to reach our future workforce,” said Kish. To listen to the radio spots go to www.KAManufacturers.com/media.htm.
About Connemara Group
Connemara Group is a full-service advertising/public relations/government relations/political consulting firm, serving a broad-based clientele dedicated to creating, planning and handling all forms of advertising and marketing for their clients. Their services include; marketing strategy, public relations, branding, broadcast and multimedia and internet development on a local, regional and national basis.
About the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers
Established in 1911, KAM is the commonwealth’s only manufacturing trade association. Our mission is to raise the prosperity of all Kentuckians by protecting and growing our state’s economic engine: manufacturing. KAM proactively works with elected officials, policymakers, chambers of commerce, other associations, economic development experts, the news media, the general public and its own members to drive results through eight branded initiatives: ProsperousKentuckySM, ProductiveKentuckySM, FreedomKentuckySM, SmartKentuckySM, HealthyKentuckySM, HonestKentuckySM, CleanKentuckySM and MarketKentuckySM. Visit us on the web at www.KAManufacturers.com.
