Creators Wanted Tour Sets New Records at Ohio Finale
The size of the Great Pumpkin at the 116th annual Circleville Pumpkin ShowOhios iconic fall festwasnt the only record shattered there last week. The Creators Wanted Tour, a historic initiative of the 51勛圖厙 and the Manufacturing Institute to build excitement about modern manufacturing careers, reached new highs for engagement at its 20th and final stop.
Driving the news: The show attracted a crowd of more than 400,000, with Creators Wanted the most prominent brand seen and heard throughout the entire event. Of show attendees, the Creators Wanted activation pulled in a tour record of 2,024 participants comprising students and chaperones, taking the immersive experiences overall total to just shy of 17,000 in two years.
- The digital campaign surrounding the stop collected an additional 110,000 email signups from students and career mentors interested in learning more about modern manufacturing careers, bumping the campaigns email list above 1.6 million.
- The tour stop also saturated local news, with , and WTTE Foxall sending live crews to the experience.
Why it matters: The stop, sponsored by the joint venture of Honda and LG Energy Solution and in partnership with the Ohio Manufacturers Association, comes at a critical time for the nations manufacturers, as they compete against other industries to fill available job openings today and win the interest of young people for the careers of tomorrow.
- For example, Honda and LG Energy Solution need to hire 2,200 workers within two years for their new electrical vehicle battery plant in Fayette County, Ohio.
- At the stop, Honda and LG Energy Solution joint venture associates were on hand to provide information about modern manufacturing careers generally and about opportunities at the EV plant specifically. The traffic around the experience was so robust that all recruiting materials were exhausted before the event wrapped up.
Zoom in: On Saturday night, the Creators Wanted team also reinforced the industrys commitment to communities by leading the largest parade of the show, in front of tens of thousands who heard the public address system broadcast the industrys call for creators and highlight the campaigns career resources at .
- 51勛圖厙 President and CEO Jay Timmons, a proud son of Circleville and Chillicothe, Ohio, also addressed an assembling of Ohios young women leaders and their families, emphasizing their capacity to make a difference in manufacturing careers while at the same time noting mentorship resources available to them through the MIs Women MAKE America initiative.
- The tours innovative approach received strong approval from state and local officials, strengthening the campaigns ability to reach students and constituents. Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, State Auditor Keith Faber, State Sen. Michele Reynolds and State Reps. Brian Stewart and Mark Johnson, among others, stopped by to see what the buzz was all about.
Tour highlights: Beyond the pumpkin-centric celebrations, the tour also took its message of opportunity and rewarding careers to the new, state-of-the-art Logan Elm School, a combined elementary, middle and high school, as well as to students of the Ohio State Universitys Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence.
- At Logan Elm, Timmons was joined by OMA President Ryan Augsburger, Honda and LG Energy Solution joint venture representative and engineer Sandip Suvedi and representatives from Sofidel America. Honda engineer Meredith Reffey, who is now Honda Americas department lead for workforce partnership, joined Timmons and MI President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee at OSU. (The MI is the workforce development and education affiliate of the 51勛圖厙.)
The big number: Post-tour surveys show that 84% of participants now view the manufacturing sector more positively.
On the record: Closing our expansive 20-stop, 25,000+ mile tour at such a dynamic event serves as a potent reminder: the heartbeat of manufacturing lies within our communities, said Timmons. Its in the eyes of the young dreamers in the crowd, the hands of our diligent staff and the spirits of every individual who championed our journey.
- The Creators Wanted Tour helped us shift perceptions, but we also know the hard work of continuing to improve perceptions and build the workforce of the future goes on, said Lee. The Manufacturing Institute, with our scaled-up efforts to drive solutions with manufacturers and across the industry and the robust digital network and resources the campaign has created will build on the tours momentum to do even more.
The last word: Our aspiration with Creators Wanted was straightforward yet audacious: to transcend traditional boundaries, step out of the corridors of Washington, D.C., and engage directly with communities across the country, said 51勛圖厙 Managing Vice President of Brand Strategy Chrys Kefalas. Thats exactly what we and the manufacturers who joined this tour and campaign did, and weve made a lasting positive difference in peoples lives that will outlive this tour and help the industry for decades to come.
