| Plexus Consulting Group | Success Stories | ||
|
Institute of Food Technologists |
|||
|
Plexus Consulting Group, LLC |
|
Vital Stats: How to address the food technologist employment shortage and raise awareness about the profession? In 1993, a Purdue University study, conducted in cooperation with
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), anticipated a
15% shortage of food scientists through the year 2005. What steps
could IFT take to raise awareness of the food science profession and
increase the market supply of food technologists to government, academia
and industry? The Challenge | The Solution | The Process |Unintended Consequences | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned
How to promote an industry facing unprecedented and aggressive online market competition? NACS' "advocacy" initiative grew in part from an increasingly
competitive market as online-only textbook sellers began to aggressively
advertise and target directly to NACS members' customers. The college
store industry had never been required to advocate on its own behalf
and was "under siege" for the first time in its history.
Leverage volunteer resources by creating effective, reusable
and long-lived communications materials that reach younger audiences
through their science teachers. The process of developing educational marketing materials involved the following steps:
The Career Guidance Committee was solely responsible for content development, production and editing. Due to the unchanging scientific principles of food science, IFT has found that its communications materials have a long shelf-life. All content is closely edited for accuracy by a volunteer subcommittee. While printing and distribution are outsourced to vendors, IFT rigorously gathers end-user data to measure program impact. On outsourcing, IFT works with a few vendors who have a strong track record for producing quality materials on time and on budget. IFT's foundation funds career & guidance programs, including the communications program. All materials are distributed to audiences free of charge. IFT campaign video and collateral materials include:
Other related programs that IFT has developed to build awareness of the profession include:
In view of production costs, IFT only provides materials on request and in exchange, collects detailed "client" profiles for its database. Two in-house IFT staff are responsible for working with the Career Guidance Committee, and IFT supports the effort by stocking some printed materials in-house. In fact, IFT developed such a good relationship with one Minnesota-based print vendor, that it routinely receives offers of free storage for campaign collateral materials. Scholarships Forty years ago, food processing and packaging technologists were
drawn exclusively from the engineering professions. Reflecting the
bias of their training, they were more focused on how food-processing
machinery functioned than in the quality and safety of the food produced.
Today, food safety has become paramount, and food science professionals
with B.S. degrees can command starting salaries of $35,000. While
their salaries may lag those of their engineering counterparts to
begin with, some may eventually command six figures. Over the past
40 years, what was once a thoroughly male-dominated field has been
thoroughly transformed. Forty percent of all food scientists today
are women, and there is no shortage of opportunity. In fact, technologists
are beginning to successfully compete with MBAs for leadership positions
in the field. Effective marketing of IFT's scholarship and education
programs have raised awareness of these significant incentives to
draw more qualified candidates into the profession. The only foreseeable "downside" to the program
is that the Committee rotates its members every three years. As a
result, it may be a challenge to maintain the campaign's momentum
throughout these periods of turnover. Unforseen Benefits
Measurements & Results To measure the success of its efforts, IFT tracks distribution of
its materials and receives yearly written reports documenting these
distributions. Also, IFT conducts surveys via its distribution services.
Survey results have shown that 99.9% of the materials distributed
are actually used and 90% of the teachers are thoroughly pleased with
the results. IFT distributes anywhere from 5-10,000 videos per year,
and to date, has distributed a total of 30,000 videos reaching 12.5
million students. Since the videos can be used from year-to-year,
IFT's marketing and educational efforts are highly cost-effective.
|
|
