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The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC): a strategy to shape future workforce capabilities

Client: The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)

Scope: Research & Strategy, Creative, Media & Communications, Video

Understanding the client

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is part of the UK-wide network of ‘Catapults’ set up by Innovate UK to promote research, development and alignment across technology, people and skills.

The MTC was tasked with leading the development of the new Workforce Foresighting Hub, a nationwide programme which brings together industry, policymakers and educators to help identify and shape the future occupational profiles and educational provision needed to exploit innovative technologies in the UK.

MTC turned to CWA to create the brand strategy and visual identity for the Workforce Foresighting Hub, due to the agency’s ability to understand and manage the scale and complexity of the project. Bringing together multiple stakeholders for a programme of huge national significance, this was more than a routine branding project.

CWA’s research and strategy, creative, media and video teams had to work together to develop the creative strategy and subsequent assets that could elevate this incredibly complex topic from an inward-facing, largely academic audience and simplify it to ensure that industry, employers and educators were engaged enough to provide valuable input.

As part of its inception, the Hub also developed the foresighting process, a systemic approach to identifying the organisational capabilities and workforce skills required. In addition to developing the brand from scratch in a very short time frame, CWA would need to find the tools to communicate this process - its methodology, rationale and evolving outputs - effectively to stakeholders.

Gathering insights and expertise

Once CWA had used our agency expertise to fully understand the programme and its initial goals, our focus switched to shaping the comms direction required to overcome some internal and long-held sector challenges.

Our research told us that the Hub was seen by some stakeholders as a pilot initiative, rather than a critical programme set to shape the future of many UK industries. There was also some discord between early messaging and the internal team culture, with some initial scepticism over the power of marketing in a largely academic environment.

With this in mind, we presented recommendations that set out our strategic direction, launching a thought leadership marketing approach that would drive brand awareness, provide ongoing support to the team including thorough toolkits and training, and develop effective comms that would showcase the impact of the Workforce Foresighting Hub.

Collaborating to meet objectives

Bringing together collective expertise from across the CWA business, our work spanned research and strategy, creative design, social media and digital PR, plus video animation and video production.

The initial brand and creative strategy was informed by stakeholder interviews and consultation, with additional research and evaluation, giving us the insights to develop brand assets from scratch. This included positioning, proposition, elevator speech, mission, vision and values, tone of voice and communication pillars. Our marketing strategy and social media strategy included target audience profiling, and an audit of comms gaps and touchpoints.

With the strategic direction in place and agreed, CWA’s creative team worked on brand and visual identity guidelines across all media, plus the development of brand and marketing collateral in line with the marketing strategy.

Targeted activity across social media (monthly planning, content development and production), digital PR (blogs, articles, podcasts), video animation and video production (case studies and corporate videos) all helped to bring the brand to life, offering a broad mix of rich content.

We also initiated a creative review six months after the initial brand development, facilitating continued evolution of the brand based on insights. Shaped by feedback and ongoing evaluation, changes included the introduction of more ‘human’ elements and more dynamic content, particularly across social media, to support engagement and create additional impact.

Workforce Foresighting Hub

Delivering added-value results

One of the Workforce Foresighting Hub’s key objectives is to enable and deliver a consistent approach to foresighting, that can address workforce skills demands and inspire people to participate. Our brand strategy, creative outputs and continued comms support are helping to deliver this objective, communicate the Hub’s focus and engage the critical stakeholders that are so important to the process.

Beyond the initial strategy, our rich mix of comms outputs and digital content is engaging audiences, supporting lead generation and communicating key messages at every stage of foresighting cycles. By giving those involved in the process access to content and comms tools, we are also supporting individuals to share and showcase their involvement.

Testimonials

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  • The entire team at CWA have truly become an extension of our marketing team. With their support, we've transformed our complex start-up with a unique service offering into a vibrant brand with a clear identity.They’ve helped us craft targeted messages and create impactful marketing assets, making a significant difference in our efforts.

    Working with CWA has been invaluable. Despite the many stakeholders and diverse marketing objectives, they've consistently demonstrated creativity, strategic thinking, professionalism, and patience.

    I thoroughly enjoy collaborating with them. They take the time to deeply understand our business and objectives, consistently delivering high-quality content and support.

    Emily Brennan, Communications Manager, Workforce Foresighting Hub

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