Checking In on the New Career Education Campaign What's New

The California Community Colleges launched a new effort to promote the benefits of Career Education in its 114 colleges, in July 2017. The campaign, aimed at prospective students – both high school students and adults who want to gain new skills – as well as parents, counselors, employers and other stakeholders, highlights Career Education as an affordable, accessible pathway to a rewarding career.

Demand for Associate Degree and certificate-holding professionals is already surging, and is expected to reach historical levels as the much discussed “skills gap” broadens. California’s latest effort to meet that demand includes paid advertising in both social and traditional media, public relations efforts, multicultural outreach, local outreach events, online video and employer and stakeholder engagement.

Career Education radio ads ran in the Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles markets from July through November 2017. Digital ads also began running statewide in July 2017, and will continue to appear through late June 2018. As of November 30, 2017, the campaign has received more than 133 million impressions amongst adults 18 and above. More than 186,000 sessions were tracked on CaliforniaCareerEducation.com (the URL included on all Career Education Marketing). The most viewed sectors of the site were Life Sciences Biotech (18 percent), Agriculture, Water, Environmental Technology (18 percent), Advanced Manufacturing (15 percent), Energy, Construction & Utilities (14 percent) and Health (10 percent). Added-value media opportunities have delivered 25 million bonus impressions from adults 18 and above, valued at $311,000.

The campaign launched an online toolkit in December of last year, complete with all campaign marketing assets. Many of the assets are templated for customization by colleges, districts, regions and campaign partners. Materials include ready-to-use and tailorable marketing/advertising, event and outreach materials and guidelines for utilizing the templates. Materials can be accessed by clicking on the following link: http://careereducationtoolkit.cccco.edu/.

In October 2017, the first Career Education African American Advisory Panel meeting took place at Sacramento City College. The purpose of the panel is to engage community leaders and influencers statewide in efforts to raise awareness among African American students, prospective students and their families about Career Education programs offered through California’s community colleges. The panel is comprised of 20 individuals from labor unions, workforce development programs, educational institutions, students and the faith community. The members will be challenged to conduct outreach in their respective communities, using specific assets from the toolkit to help with their efforts.

Lastly, the campaign is in the process of creating Spanish Language assets, which are scheduled to launch in May/June 2018.  The elements scheduled to be created include 15-second videos, digital banners, social media content, billboards, bus shelters, a brochure, fact sheets, translation of the online toolkit and a Hispanic Career Education website.