Hoffman, Estates, Ill.—I-CAR launched its Collision Careers platform on Wednesday, its first-ever digital advertising campaign aimed at attracting high potential talent to the industry. The campaign showcases the benefits of a career in collision repair to solve a talent crisis that is estimated to be 100,000 skilled technicians short.

The campaign features a series of videos themed “Bolt Ahead with Collision Careers,” which highlights various professional roles in collision repair including structural technicians, estimators, and electric diagnostics technicians.

The campaign, developed in collaboration with full-service ad agency Push 22, will run this first-wave primarily on YouTube and is designed to target both students and parents. The videos will initially run 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.

Collision Careers will expand its campaign later this year with opportunities for like-minded talent concerned organizations and marketing leaders across the industry to partner on content and develop co-op advertising campaigns to further promote career paths in collision repair. The 15-second spots and a longer campaign video can be viewed on Collision Careers’ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CollisionCareers

“We are taking a very current consumer marketing approach and applying it to an industry that has never approached positioning itself in this way to attract talent,” said Arianna Sherlock, Senior Director of Marketing at I-CAR. “There is a tremendous amount of competition for GenZ’s attention. We’re not just competing against other trades or colleges. We’re competing against all of the digital content they consume so it’s imperative we meet them where they are and stand out.”

Source: Aftermarket Matters