Young talent will drive label industry future workforce image campaign

FINAT and Europe’s national label industry associations have launched a project that brings together young talent from different countries to drive the development of an image campaign for the European labels and narrow web industry, to raise awareness among pupils, students and young professionals of the lively attraction of our industry as career destination.

Rather than hiring an advertising agency, FINAT and the national associations have embarked on a journey of campaign co-creation, using the combined creativity and enthusiasm of a group of talented young colleagues who have joined the label community fairly recently. Co-hosted by the German association VskE, the project brought together a group of young people and experienced professionals from Germany, UK, France, Benelux, Sweden and Greece in the inspirational setting of the Catalonia Hotel, Berlin, on 23 and 24 January. The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm on the key topics of target audiences, messages and media -- in other words, to lay the groundwork for action.

The session was moderated by marketing and communications strategist Bert van Loon (NL). Labour market specialist Jan Denys from Randstad (B) shared his experience on ‘employer branding’. Freelance editor and VskE Director Klemens Ehrlitzer (D) described the art of detecting the message behind the message; and FINAT MD Jules Lejeune completed the mentoring quartet. During the working sessions, participants split in groups to develop the initial outlines of a communication strategy, focusing on three defined job profiles:

1. ‘Geeky George’ (technical orientation)
2. ‘Cheerful Charley’ (creative orientation)
3. ‘Mindful Maddie’ (leadership oriented)

These concepts will be developed further over the coming months in follow-up sessions and online conferences. Concrete results of the project are expected by the end of spring, and will be presented at the FINAT European Label Forum. The formal campaign should be launched after the summer breaks, and Labelexpo Europe in September will, of course, deliver key momentum.

Labels giving identity to the world – a story to be heard

“Our industry has a story that deserves to be heard”, FINAT Managing Director Jules Lejeune commented. “In Europe, it embraces over three thousand companies, representing a turnover of almost €10 billion. Our workforce can easily fill even the largest football stadia in Europe. Our products can be found in every household, factory, office, store, warehouse, road vehicle, plane, or ship. Without labels, goods would be anonymous; manufacturing and distribution systems would be in chaos; and brands would be a boring experience. Labels are not just printed adhesive substrates, but, as per the real definition of the term ‘labelling’, they give identity to the world.”

“Working in this industry makes you a part of a sector of entrepreneurs and corporations that offers innovative, high-tech solutions that, in every sense, make a product’s identity stick. A career in the labeling solutions industry can be as dynamic and rewarding as a career in any other sector in the digitized world of today. And who can better tell this story than our young talents of today?” Mr. Lejeune concludes.