You’ve probably seen the news by now, but I-CAR’s Collision Careers (launched in partnership with the Collision Repair Education Foundation in 2023) began a digital marketing campaign targeting young people to impress upon them the benefits of pursuing collision repair as a career. The campaign consists of a series of short, high-energy videos with snappy music extolling the virtues of being a mechanical tech, refinish tech, electric diagnostics tech, structural tech and non-structural tech. One of the videos has already gotten 75,000 views on YouTube, while another has gotten 60,000 views.
The first-wave of the campaign will primarily run on YouTube and is designed to target both students and parents. The videos are initially running in several major markets, including Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia, which were chosen for their high need for talent, proximity to strong collision repair school programs and shops, and ability to reach the target demographic. Most are 15-second spots, with one longer video encompassing everything.
It’s so refreshing and exciting to see a campaign like this finally get started in the auto body industry to try to get our fair share of young talent looking at careers in the skilled trades.
As I-CAR Vice President of Planning and Industry Talent Programming Dara Goroff said, “The launch of this first-of-its-kind campaign is a natural next step on the critical work I-CAR has undertaken through its Collision Careers program to attract talent to the industry and to illustrate the benefits of this stable, growing and innovative career journey.”
Way to go, I-CAR! And here’s hoping our labor picture improves.
