Creative campaigns and content to promote engineering apprenticeships

Background

Sunderland Engineering Training Association (Seta) is a not-for-profit Group Training Association which delivers engineering apprenticeships and commercial training courses.

Based in Washington, Seta provides accredited, industry-recognised training to an advanced level and has been playing a key role in developing and transforming workforces in North East England and beyond for more than 40 years.

It supports local businesses, major regional companies and some of the world’s biggest organisations – such as GE Vernova, Rolls-Royce and Siemens – with their apprenticeship programmes.

Its diverse apprenticeship offering spans key engineering disciplines such as welding and fabrication, electrical and mechanical fitting and maintenance, and precision CNC machining.

Brief

Seta needed to reinvigorate the promotion of its apprenticeships and commissioned Horizon Works to breathe new life into its marketing.

We were tasked with helping Seta to increase the number of apprenticeship applications. To achieve this, we not only needed to promote Seta’s training and capabilities – and communicate its advantages over local further education providers – but also educate young people on the many benefits of education and manufacturing careers.

Seta’s apprenticeship team needed a campaign that would resonate with young people and assets that would support its engagement across multiple touchpoints, from social media to school assemblies and careers fairs.

In addition, Seta needed to raise awareness of its training capabilities and track record among regional employers.

Solution

• We created a powerful visual identity for the apprenticeships campaign, backed by a suite of strong messages around Seta’s USPs and the exciting opportunities an engineering career could bring.
• The ‘behind great careers in engineering’ slogan was developed to demonstrate how Seta has provided the launchpad for thousands of engineering careers.
• Through the ‘Seta stories’ concept, current and former apprentices shared their learning and relatable experiences – and we developed case studies, videos and social media graphics to tell their stories.
• We designed a wide range of assets to support the campaign, including animations, video content with apprentices at major regional employers, social media content for Instagram and Facebook, a slide deck, exhibition materials and flyers.

Results

• Apprenticeship applications through Seta increased by 34%
• Engagement on Seta’s marketing channels has increased significantly: our Instagram advertising campaign, for example, boosted month to month profile visits by 95%, while Instagram followers have increased by 130% from May 2024 to May 2025.
• Seta now has a suite of adaptable assets that its team can use to promote apprenticeships digitally and at events, such as open days.