Company: Lightcast; Moscow, ID
Company Description: Lightcast provides trusted global labor market data, analytics, and expert guidance that empowers communities, corporations, and learning providers to make informed decisions and navigate the increasingly complex world of work. With a database of more than 2.5 billion job postings and career profiles, our team provides best-in-class data, analysis, and guidance on skills, jobs, and opportunities.
Nomination Category: Thought Leadership Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Thought Leadership Campaign of the Year - Business Services
 Nomination Title: The Rising Storm: Building a Future-Ready Workforce to Withstand the Looming Labor Shortage
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
September 17, 2024
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
Lightcast exists to organize the world’s labor market data and make it accessible and useful. And the labor market data we were seeing showed a serious challenge: a major shortage of workers ahead. Our own internal data, in combination with government statistics and other compiled research, revealed there would be a shortfall of 6 million workers within the next 10 years—particularly in the skilled trades, retail, and hospitality, all of which perform vital functions that everyday Americans rely on. The worker shortage and “Great Resignation” of 2021-2022, in which worker shortages led to supply chain breakdowns and rising wages leading to inflation, was not an isolated event, but a preview of what’s to come.
We created The Rising Storm to get the word out. Forewarned is forearmed, so we wanted employers to be aware of the challenges ahead so that they could prepare their workforce strategy accordingly. This aligns with Lightcast core business in two ways: first, we provide the tools, resources, and insights that would enable businesses to create a future-ready workforce. Second, we wanted to demonstrate the capabilities of our data and analysis. Lightcast provides valuable through software and data delivery, but also through consulting—so we wanted to demonstrate that our data can be used for reliable insights years into the future, and also that we have the in-house expertise to make the most of that capability. The Rising Storm positioned Lightcast as a brand that can see around corners, while still providing real value to readers.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the subject and content development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 225 words used.
This was a followup to two previous reports in a series we called “The Demographic Drought.” Lightcast senior economist (and the report’s lead author) Ron Hetrick had been presenting those findings for years, refining and optimizing his presentation over time. During that process, he reached out to the Lightcast in-house creative marketing team about updating the existing research to clarify its findings and present new insights gathered in the years since the last release. Ron was joined by Hannah Grieser, who is experienced in the writing and research but also design and data visualization, and Tim Hatton, a writer on the creative team, to organize and edit their work into a cohesive narrative. We released in September to capitalize on the window be
Ultimately, we chose a hurricane theme for the report in order to represent how one central system can have severe damage in some areas, but lighter damage in others, depending on location and their level of preparedness. The tech industry, for example, is less likely to suffer worker shortages than construction, but a well-prepared construction company will be in better position than an ignorant one. Following this approach, the four chapters of the report were titled
1. Conditions Forming: The Baby Boomers’ Labor Market
2. The Outer Bands: Today’s Labor Market
3. Landfall: The Decade Ahead
4. Preparing For The Storm
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of January 2023. Even if your initiative started before January 2023, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of July 2020 only (up to 250 words):
Total 89 words used.
The Rising Storm is our most successful content launch to date. It has over 6,500 downloads, which is more than three times the total downloads of the former top asset. The webpage has over 50,000 page views total, helping drive a 30% increase in our traffic on weeks following the launch. We have acquired 2,350 new contacts/ MQLs for Lightcast in less than 3 months. Media coverage has led to over 400M impressions, including hits in Bloomberg, the New York Times, NPR, Axios, Newsweek, and others.
- Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 93 words used.
Supporting materials attached include links to press hits, as well as an updated demographic report from the Congressional Budget Office—one of our main points was that the government had underestimated the severity of the coming shortage, and this revised estimate is closer to our own projection. In short: it proves us right. Also included is our overall planning spreadsheet, demonstrating the large scope of the project and the teamwork of everyone involved, and our internal FAQ, presented to Lightcast coworkers so we could all be experts and brand ambassadors for this flagship report.
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