Pertemps Network Group

The winning entry was a campaign run by the company’s in-house marketing team for its driver training academy, PDT Fleet Training Solutions.

In 2021, headlines everywhere screamed about a shortage of HGV drivers in the UK. Some estimates of the shortage hovered around the 100,000 mark. To help the company recruit more drivers to fill its own ranks, the marketing team “needed to first understand what the barriers to entry were, what the demographic make-up of drivers in the sector was, and their feelings on pay and conditions”, they said. The results of that survey would fuel a driver recruitment campaign.

The initial results of the survey carried out online found that 92% of HGV licence holdersfelt undervalued, with nearly a quarter planning to leave the profession in the next three years. And 22% of HGV holders were not working in the industry at that time.

“The results were shocking,” said the marketing team. “We wanted to highlight the issues, push for change and introduce an offer of free HGV training.”

Using a wide range of channels from social media and podcasts to press releases to the UK’s mainstream broadcast and print outlets, Pertemps’s team successfully spread the message; the campaign prompted 10,000 people to contact the company about driver training applications. “Successful applicants are now filtering through into the logistics supply chain, showing the campaign has made a tangible impact,” the Pertemps team said.

One estimate of advertising value equivalency of the media coverage generated by the campaign was £1.92m.

The in-depth research and subsequent campaigned also contributed to Pertemps’s successful bid for £2.5m government funding from the Skills Bootcamp program to train 700 new drivers.

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