CONCRETE MASONRY & HARDSCAPES ASSOCIATION (CMHA)
A social-first campaign aimed at attracting 17-20 year olds to a career in hardscaping, increasing awareness of the industry at large.
HARDSCAPING IS…
Telling the Story of an Industry to Grow Career Awareness
CMHA (Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association), formerly ICPI, partnered with HALSTEAD to launch a social-first campaign. The effort was one element of a larger workforce development initiative being spearheaded by the leading trade association. Experiencing a shortage of skilled labor much like other trades in the construction industry, the hardscaping industry needed to begin the effort of attracting its workforce of tomorrow—initially 17-20 year olds, with a future goal of younger ages (13-16).
HALSTEAD suggested a very different approach to attracting labor, one that challenged linear strategy and past campaigns with similar goals. We proposed that to effectively grow career interest in any trade, general education and awareness of that trade must be the first step. We challenged that while everyone in the industry knows what hardscaping is, the general public simply does not. We had work to do to tell the story of hardscaping, and to uncover the lives of the professionals who call the trade their career.
Our work spanned campaign strategy and persona development, brand and identity design and positioning, messaging development, video production and editing, and project management.
Understanding the Personas
Yes, it’s true, researching and developing the target personas of a campaign will provide insights for the non-specialized agency. But that research simply can’t compare to HALSTEAD’s leadership with over 20 years in the outdoor design/build industry. We deeply tapped that experience to build out two vivid personas, defining exactly who we were communicating with in every touchpoint. Where do they live? What are their parents like? What motivates them—money or ego? As part of the overall strategy groundwork, the persona development fueled the social targeting, content development, and messaging.
Developing the Name and Idenity
Immediately realizing that CMHA needed to communicate potentially edgy messaging with different flair than the core organization, HALSTEAD recommended a separate identity and offshoot social profiles for the effort. We needed a name that would allow for easy activation, empowering current hardscape professionals to tag and join in on the effort to the story of hardscaping. HardscapingIs… was born. We then designed an identity that embodied all things hardscaping—passion, energy, craftsmanship—yet felt fresh, young, and alive for the younger demo. HardscapingIs… the blank canvas for the industry.
Telling the Story of an Industry
HALSTEAD managed the talent sourcing, shoot logistics, storylines development, and the production and editing for the pillar videos to launch the campaign. We produced three videos—two targeting 17-20 year old career candidates and the third speaking to the parents of those young adults. The business owners featured in the videos were selected to provide resonance with the two young adult personas developed during strategy. The parents of those contractors told the stories of their children, defining the potential characteristics for future workforce candidates through emotional storytelling.
Setting Up Paid Social
With CMHA’s in-house team onboard to deploy and manage the ongoing social campaign, HALSTEAD was commissioned to create the custom audience targeting, geotargeting, and design the ad account structure for paid Facebook and Instagram advertising. We also delivered sample ad creative to form the basis for the ongoing effort. Mapping “low-hanging fruit” regions across the country to areas that CMHA could deploy their workforce development trainings most efficiently, the campaign’s foundation was designed to roll out narrowly, and scale seamlessly as the continuing effort evolved.
TESTIMONIALS
More Words From the Client
“Anna and Corey worked with us to develop a social media campaign. Our results from the campaign have been outstanding, and their creative ideas have really gelled with our audiences. We are particularly thrilled with the videos they created for us. Excellent work and highly recommend HALSTEAD!!”
— Merry Beth Hall, Director of Education and Workforce Development, CMHA
MAPPING IDENTITY TO PERSONA
The Hardscape Industry Gets…Youthful
Hardscaping is an industry with depth and soul. It’s creative, outdoor-centric, and offers the ability for people to create beautiful outdoor living spaces that stand the test of time. The professionals who call the trade their career are passionate and motivated, extremely talented craftsmen, and advanced problem solvers on-the-go. Needing an identity that resonated with these dedicated professionals, but also appealed to the target demo of 13-20 year olds, HALSTEAD set out to make the hardscape trade feel young again.
TESTIMONIALS
More Words From the Client
“Did I tell you how much I LOVE these videos? We put the [recent] video up and it’s doing great! People love it!!”
— Merry Beth Hall, Director of Education and Workforce Development, CMHA
CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS
Putting Hardscaping on the Map with Video Storytelling
Three videos, three stories. Stories of passion, dedication, and quite possibly, what it feels like to be born to do something. Born to be outside, born to work with your hands, and born to create a livelihood that felt right for them. These are the stories of hardscape professionals who have found a home in the fastest growing trade you may have never heard of…until now. Until HardscapingIs…
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