Branding could answer engineering's problems

Research by the University of Greenwich among Year 7 pupils is providing insight into the declining appeal of engineering.

Research by the University of Greenwich among Year 7 (age 11) pupils is providing insight into the declining appeal of engineering which continues to be a major problem for both employers and the overall UK economy.

Engineering was perceived to be the least enjoyable, most boring, least exciting, most difficult, lowest status, least glamorous, least well paid, dirtiest and noisiest of six career options that were researched.

The research shows an investment of tens of millions of pounds in marketing communications to overcome the negative image problem in the industry has achieved little success.

The term 'engineering' itself seems to impede success.

Jane Armstrong, carried out the study as part of her Strategic Marketing Masters degree at the University of Greenwich's Kings Hill Institute.

Her findings illustrate that the majority of those who previously expressed no interest in engineering then changed their mind once the job was described with the term 'engineering' omitted.

Importantly, she explains that the term 'engineering' should not be replaced, but rather a brand management strategy would allow it to convey more accurately the attributes of a career in engineering.

Brand management strategy could only be effectively introduced once the industry reviews its structure.

Currently more than 40 organisations launch and manage hundreds of initiatives annually to promote engineering.

Armstrong comments: "There appears little justification for the number of organisations that govern and manage the industry; restructuring would allow central planning and cohesively branded initiatives to be managed to address the image problem, which will be critical to the future of UK engineering".

Peter Wason, Chief Executive of the Institution of Incorporated Engineers comments: "Jane's research has highlighted some fundamental challenges in the way the profession presents itself.

She has illustrated the role of branding and how existing, incorrect perceptions can be overcome so that young people can see that engineering careers are associated with so many of the innovations which they admire and global challenges which they experience.

She has also identified that greater cohesiveness within the profession itself is a critical factor in improving the image.

It is an excellent piece of work which we would ignore at our peril".

Engineering continues to fail to attract its share of the student population and misconceptions about the sector remain.

Consequently, this research has been received warmly by key representatives of the UK engineering community who met recently to hear more about this study and how branding could attract more people to engineering careers.

Further meetings are planned to see how the research can be constructively applied to future strategic marketing planning for the sector.

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