The brief WorldSkills Australia (WSA) is a national, not-for-profit organisation (established since 1981) that provides young Australians aged 23 and under the opportunity to gain new skills, compete against their peers in their chosen trade and fast track their skills and career development.The Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) determined that the WorldSkills National Championships in July 2008 would be an important initiative to promote to young people.As host for the Australian National Championships, Worldskills would showcase a unique mix of 50 competition categories and over 60 competitors all compressed into three days. The solution Our team proposed that strong web coverage for the event was vital for communicating to secondary students, and participants about the excitement, competitiveness and excellence of these "Olympic" style events.
We devised a web partnership with SkillsOne - the premier trade and vocational skills video sharing site - so that WorldSkills could leverage their audience and profile to attract interest in the event generally.
We devised a web channel concept to deliver a branded experience to users based on WorldSkills established name in the trade skills field. We worked closely with WorldSkills to identify plan, research, and produce 40 x six minute stories within the three days. Knowing that it often takes months for some traditional broadcasters to complete the equivalent of four hours of television (240 minutes), our team was aware of the enormous challenge ahead. The results
The final outcome was 64 stories. All were turned around and live on the web continuously within just 48 hours. Our focussed efforts, combined with the currency of an event which is attended by thousands, produced equally impressive audience results. Mark Callaghan, CEO of WorldSkills Australia and Official Delegate for Australia, said to Worldskills International members: "I believe that ultimately, it is initiatives such as these that will help to raise the profile of WorldSkills in your own countries and internationally but also help to address the global skills shortage." Traffic to SkillsOne, where the WorldSkills Channel resided, experienced an incredible 50.4% increase in traffic for the month of July. |
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Unique visitors increased an impressive 41.6% for the month and 49% of users added the site to their bookmarks. In addition, the user-base diversified dramatically to include site visitors from 1,837 locations in 123 countries and became a triumph for the Worldskills movement globally as a result. Founder of WorldSkills, Tjerk (Jack) Dusseldorp praised these outcomes as "what the future holds for promoting WorldSkills to a worldwide audience." Since then, the profile and visitation to the WorldSkills Channel has continued months later - a testament to how we create compelling video content for targeted environments. 
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