Food & Beverage Ontario: CareersNow!
From Passion To Profession
Strategy
Overview
Through an 11-month omnichannel campaign, Blue Door helped CareersNOW! connect over 5,200 Ontario jobseekers and students with careers in the province's food and beverage processing sector.
Ontario’s food and beverage processing industry has a workforce problem. Thousands of skilled roles go unfilled each year, not because the jobs aren’t good, but because most people don’t know they exist. CareersNOW! was created to change that, and Blue Door was brought in to make it happen. For CareersNOW!’s fourth program year, Blue Door designed and ran an 11-month, province-wide campaign that put CareersNOW! in front of the right people, in the right places, at the right moments. Digital ads, transit posters, radio spots, and employer-specific content ran simultaneously across five Ontario markets, from the GTA to Thunder Bay. Real workers at real companies were featured throughout, because authentic faces and real career stories cut through in ways stock photography never could. The result was a campaign that didn’t just hit its numbers. It made the case to the FBO board and the Ontario government that this program was worth continuing, securing funding for Year 5.
Scope of Work
Strategy Development
Translated workforce objectives and labour market data into an 11-month omnichannel campaign strategy, presented formally to the CareersNOW! team and FBO board.
Digital Advertising Management
Planned and optimized campaigns across Programmatic Display, META, Google, LinkedIn, and Digital OOH.
Creative Direction and Asset Development
Produced creative across multiple rounds, including display, motion, social, and OOH formats. Coordinated photography shoots at FBO partner employers including Give & Go, Niagara College, and Centennial College.
Out-of-Home Advertising
Managed multi-phase OOH campaigns across the TTC, Mississauga Transit, Grand River Transit, York Region Transit, and Thunder Bay Transit.
Radio Advertising
Executed radio campaigns on Virgin Radio and Newstalk 1010 targeting younger jobseeker and employer audiences.
Project Management and Reporting
Delivered bi-weekly reporting throughout the full campaign, with real-time pivot recommendations to keep performance on track.
Results
Jobseekers Registered
Ontario jobseekers and students connected with food and beverage processing careers over 11 months, hitting the program's most ambitious registration target to date.
Out-of-Home Impressions
Delivered across five Ontario markets through transit advertising on the TTC, Mississauga Transit, York Region Transit, Grand River Transit, and Thunder Bay Transit, more than double the original OOH target.
Landing Page Views
Finishing at 42,010 against a target of 42,000. The Year 4 results presentation to the FBO board directly secured $400,000 in Year 5 funding.
Five Markets, Every Channel, One Cohesive Campaign
Running a province-wide campaign for 11 months without losing momentum requires constant optimization. Blue Door managed targeting, creative, and budgets in real time across seven channels and five markets, from Thunder Bay to the GTA. The campaign reached over 165 million people through out-of-home alone, more than twice the original target, and ran simultaneously across 7 channels in 5 markets for nearly a full year.
Real People, Real Roles: Why Authentic Creative Outperformed
Most workforce campaigns look like stock photo libraries. CareersNOW! Year 4 didn't. Blue Door coordinated shoots at real Ontario food and beverage companies, capturing actual workers in skilled trades roles, because seeing someone like you doing a job you'd never considered makes the ask feel credible. Three creative rounds kept the campaign fresh across 11 months. Optimization of creative and targeting cut the cost of each signup by 28% compared to earlier campaign periods.
Hitting the Numbers That Mattered Most
Year 4 was built around the most aggressive targets in the program's history, and it delivered. Sign-ups held strong across a long flight, with October producing 255 sign-ups in a single two-week window. 5,222 jobseekers and students signed up. 42,010 landing page views hit the 42,000 target precisely. The results presentation to the FBO board directly secured Year 5 funding.
