Halifax Partnership hired us to create a three-year multi-media campaign to tackle the issue of youth out-migration. Our team developed the concept, strategy and creative content including social media, billboards, videos, print advertising, infographics, posters, sell sheets and public events.

Below is our case study about the award-winning campaign.

Dear Mom & Dad,

I almost bought a one-way plane ticket to Australia today. I had my flight picked, my passport ready and credit card out.

This can’t come as a shock to you. A lot of my friends have already left Nova Scotia. Without full time, meaningful employment, us twenty-somethings are heading for places that see our value as recent graduates.

And it’s not just my friends who are leaving. Every year, 1,300 of our most talented, most vibrant, well- educated twenty-somethings pack up and leave. Not by choice. By economic necessity.

I had felt abandoned by my city -
my province - until this came in the mail:

The invitation signed by Halifax Mayor Mike Savage had only the barest details - just enough to pique my interest. This line - Even your great grandchildren will thank you - sounded hopeful.

And so I went to the event at the Paul O’Reagan Hall in the Halifax Central Library. The first thing I saw were massive posters with faces of university students just like me.

They each had a tidbit of a story to tell; reading them in sequence revealed the entire story: that these twenty-somethings have talent, vision, passion and drive and they have untapped potential.

Mom - you would have loved it. There were more than 200 people - the top business people, influencers, movers and shakers of the province. People were chatting, engaged and intrigued.

On our seats we found these four-page brochures:

It all made sense now - we were here to address the issue of youth retention. By being there and taking action, we were helping even our great grandchildren.

The CEO of the Halifax Partnership spoke and brought the issue of youth retention into focus:

Every year more than $1.2 billion in future earnings go somewhere else. Of those who stick it out for a while, 12 per cent remain unemployed and an incredible 42 per cent work in jobs that don’t require their university education.

This slide says it all:

The Halifax Partnership has a plan. It’s called Game Changers and it challenges the business community to hire youth right out of university instead of demanding five or more years of experience.

This is no act of charity. There’s a clear return on investment for businesses who hire youth. We are Game Changers. We are the future. We can stop the decline on a dime. Our best days are yet to come.

This short video, which played just before the mayor spoke, shows what we bring to the table:

A funny thing happened after the video played. People in the audience began looking at their phones, sharing what they saw, taking pictures. I checked out my social media feeds and saw #HireMeHalifax trending because of hundreds of these selfies:
 

It was obviously a cleverly co-ordinated effort because they were all using #HireMeHalifax. People in the audience - even parents - were joining in, tweeting and retweeting, so much that it trended No.3 across Canada for two hours.

Pretty impressive for a press conference . . . but that was only the start. Before the event was over, we had met one of the twenty-somethings and had been invited to the Mayor’s State of the Municipality address two days later at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon to hear more of her story.

There, in front of several hundred business leaders, this video played, showcasing Halifax and all it has to offer people like me:

No doubt you have heard about the events, the videos and the Game Changers program - it was all over the news that week. There were advertisements in the newspapers, magazines and online and even in elevators.

ONLINE ADS:

Magazine - Newspaper ads:

Watch where you are driving, mom and dad, because there are 24 billboards of me and my friends scattered throughout the city.

Here are some resources to help you hire the best and brightest young professionals in the city:

YEAR 1 (Conclusion):

I finally felt like Nova Scotia’s youth retention issue was being validated and addressed. I felt wanted, knowing that there is a whole program dedicated to keeping young talent like me, to help grow our city. I’ve been thinking about it and I’d like to give Halifax another chance.

YEAR 2

Dear colleague:

I wasn’t open to the idea of giving young employees a chance. My company had always employed the most experienced talent. That was just the way it always was. Young employees lack experience, and take a lot of time to train. I was content to let twenty-somethings go out west to gain experience, and then come back and find work at home.

That’s when I heard about #HireMeHalifax, a unique networking event and pitch competition that would bring youth and businesses together. I went to the event and listened to 15 top young talent in the city pitch themselves to a room of more than 200 people, many of them Halifax employers. I learned that in reality, the youth who were travelling out west to gain experience weren’t coming back.

At the event, I picked up a copy of this:

The Game Changers Guide to Hiring Youth outlined our province’s youth retention issue, and included connections and resources to help businesses hire youth, offer experiential learning opportunities to students, and connect young talent to opportunities in their field. The pages were filled with images of real people who wanted to stay here.

I also learned about a new initiative the Halifax Partnership was launching as part of Game Changers: the Experiential Learning Initiative, to help businesses connect to post-secondary institutions and create experiential learning opportunities for students in their business.

I was starting to see that Nova Scotia had a youth retention issue, and it was up to businesses like mine to retain these youth so they could build their lives here.

Later that same year, I caught wind of another Game Changers effort: The Game Changers Awards were open for nominations. I nominated several companies that I knew of who excelled at hiring youth and offering experiential learning opportunities, and then attended the Game Changers Awards Gala to see who the winners would be. After taking my seat, I flipped through the program and saw the names of over 100 businesses who were giving youth a chance.

The evening started with a video, hearing from even more employers why they choose to hire and support youth.

I was so inspired by the action I saw from other businesses, and by the dedication of the private, public, and post-secondary sectors, that I decided to make an effort to bring young talent into my own company.

YEAR 3

Dear Mom and Dad,

It’s been three years since I attended the Game Changers program launch, and wow, what a difference three years can make!

This year, I went to the 2018 Game Changers Awards Gala, the final event and wrap-up of Game Changers. There was a real energy and buzz in the room – businesses were excited about the awards and recognition, and youth were excited about the opportunity to connect with businesses.

The evening started with a video showing employers and youth alike who shared how Game Changers had impacted both them and our city. One interviewee said it best:

Once Game Changers concluded, the Halifax Partnership announced the program results. This was it, the moment everyone was waiting for: to see if the mindsets of both youth and businesses were actually.

I was ecstatic to learn that not only had Nova Scotia stemmed its annual youth outmigration of 1,300, it had surpassed the Game Changers goal of net 0 loss of youth in Year Two of the program!

This is a big win not only for my generation, but for generations to come.