Gatsby Charitable Foundation

A multi-year communications programme to inspire SMEs to host a T Level industry placement – delivered in partnership with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

T Levels are a new technical qualification for 16–19-year-olds. Developed with employers to address sector skills shortages, they blend classroom learning with a 45-day industry placement, ensuring students gain both essential technical knowledge and hands-on experience.

But with many Engineering & Manufacturing businesses still lacking awareness of T Levels and the benefits of industry placements, the opportunity to build an essential talent pipeline and plug those long-standing skills gaps is being missed.

The Gatsby Charitable Foundation wants to change that.

Jack & Grace was briefed to deliver a targeted campaign to increase awareness, provide reassurance and motivate SMEs to act. We started by creating a strategic foundation to underpin all activity – developing a unifying creative concept, brand identity, core messaging and narrative script.

Then, across multiple channels and formats, we delivered an integrated comms programme, including:

• Bespoke digital campaigns – working in partnership with strategic partners Enginuity, EngineeringUK and Make UK
• Tailored communication toolkits – enabling regional subsector trade bodies to amplify our message
• Case studies and videos – bringing to life success stories of businesses who’ve already benefited from T Levels
• PR – engaging trade and regional media to put T Level placements in the spotlight

By combining authentic storytelling with strategic targeting and strong partner collaboration, we’ve increased awareness of T Level placements and laid important groundwork for long-term employer buy-in across the Engineering & Manufacturing sector.

Results to date include:

• In depth case study coverage across target trade media, reaching an audience of 415,000+, and including a six page feature in The Manufacturer
• Our content has consistently driven traffic to the Department for Education’s T Level website – the employer page is now third most visited on the site, with 5 – 6x more sessions than any other page
• LinkedIn ranking in the top 5 sources for the Department for Education’s T Level website – with EngineeringUK and Make UK featuring in the top 20 source referrals.