We’ve all heard of “Don’t Mess With Texas,” the slogan first coined in 1986 to teach Texas residents the real cost of littering. Since then, celebrities like Willie Nelson and Matthew McConaughey have gotten on board to promote the message, and the phrase has become a cultural icon.
The advertising exec credited with “Don’t Mess With Texas” is Roy Spence, and his daughter is Courtney Spence, founder of her own San Francisco agency C Spence. Now, as 10/12 Industry Report details in a feature from the new issue, the pair are teaming up to tackle just as serious an issue in Louisiana in hopes that their new campaign will be just as successful at changing perceptions.
In early August, Courtney spent two weeks traveling to six cities in Louisiana to gauge the current landscape of the state’s education and workforce needs. Her tour represents the first step in creating the branding for a grassroots campaign as part of the Louisiana Workforce Education Initiative.
LWEI is a nonprofit organization created to provide the public messaging and communications support necessary to begin changing outdated public perceptions about high-demand, high-paying industrial careers that don’t require a four-year college degree. It’s no secret that the demand for jobs like plant workers and welders is at an all-time high due to the industrial boom, but students and young adults aren’t always encouraged to pursue them as a career path.
Armed with data from a poll conducted last summer that revealed outdated ideas about skilled jobs, community members of the LWEI board—in partnership with C Spence and Baton Rouge firm SSA Consultants—are now moving forward to implement a media campaign to recruit, inspire, educate and prepare the next generation of Louisiana’s workforce.
LWEI is supported by key industry, business and government leaders and is working in coordination with the Louisiana Department of Education, the Louisiana Workforce Commission and Louisiana’s Workforce Investment Council.
“The jobs are there, but we don’t have the trained workforce to fill them right now,” says LWEI board member and Urban Systems partner Mike Palamone. “All of the jobs with expansions along the river are going to be in those two-year programs, and they’re very well paid.”
Read the full feature. Send your comments to editor@1012industryreport.com. And be sure to check out more stories from the current issue of 10/12 Industry Report, including the cover story in which the magazine sits down with each of the four leading candidates for governor to discuss their plans for addressing industrial issues if elected.
