A new omnichannel campaign in the aviation industry is making a big splash to attract workers amid a labour shortage.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Regional Jets (MHI RJ) is in the process of rolling out several phases of its “Live Your Best Life” global recruitment campaign, developed with Montreal-based partner agency TheUn Known. The campaign targets technicians and mechanics from across industries in Canada and the U.S.
The campaign’s first phase included a three-minute short film that appeared on a variety of streaming platforms like Roku and Prime Video through its media agency partner Panoply.
The campaign recently moved into its second phase that contains ad formats tailored to a variety of channels and brand touchpoints. These ads show what employees’ lifestyles are like in work locations in West Virginia and Arizona.
MHI RJ Aviation Group’s goal was to show how achievable a healthy work-life balance can be at their company. Highlighting a three-to-four-day work schedule, the campaign highlights how much time its employees can still maintain for their passions and hobbies.
In a bid to offer a more authentic vision of its workplace culture, the “Live Your Best Life” ads include company employees telling real stories, as opposed to hiring professional actors. The company’s marketers sat down with company employees to better understand who they are, so the campaign could reflect their lives and interests.
“We knew that if they worked for us and they love working for us, well then we need to build a story that speaks to them because then it’s going to speak to others like them,” MHI RJ Aviation Group senior brand manager Stephanie Bento says. “We wanted to really be authentic and real with the people that live in that geography so we can represent what they stand for.”
Bento notes that there’s been alarms sounding across the aviation industry in general about labour shortages. Bento says MHI RJ is looking to be a more active participant in the industry by promoting aviation technician jobs as great work, and push for more enrolment in education programs that help people break into the industry.
The aviation company’s director of marketing and brand management Melanie Filiatreault notes that companies across a variety of industries are running hiring campaigns, but that they often end up feeling homogenous. By highlighting lifestyle benefits, Filiatreault says their company aimed to set itself apart.
“Everybody’s kind of promoting a nice workplace, good benefits, opportunities and everybody’s talking about the same things. But what we really wanted to do is stand out,” Filiatreault tells strategy.
It’s also a departure for the company’s media strategy. MHI RJ has typically used traditional print media and OOH outlets for its marketing in the past. But in recent years, it has shifted its ad spend to more heavily utilize online video and social media advertising. With this campaign, it’s using connected TV as well. Overall, the ad spend is similar compared to past marketing campaigns, but the strategy about how those dollars are spent has shifted in the last three to four years.
