How IBM intends to raise awareness of Stem careers among young people at Do It Day
Plan It Day brought together brands in search of creative solutions for world-changing ideas. As we look ahead to Do It Day on 2 November, we explore how IBM wants to raise awareness of Stem subjects among young people. The challenge solutions are variable and may change on the day.
With science and technology major contributors to the prosperity of the UK, IBM wants to use Do It Day to raise the profile of Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects and engage with young people that might have dismissed studying them.
A 2014 study suggests that almost four out of five 14-16 year-olds would consider a career in a Stem related industry, but more than half of those surveyed admitted they knew very little about the type of jobs on offer. With that insight in mind all three of the teams formed ideas that tapped into passion points of teens, such as fashion, sport and music, to try and engage them in that way.
While IBM thought all the strategies met the brief quite tightly, it was a platform that would allow children to customise a connected glove that won the judges over. The team based their idea on the insight that while young people have great creative ideas they don’t necessarily have the skills to develop them. To address this the team will create a platform on Do It Day to allow teens to customise a connected glove and each month the glove with the most votes will be created. Key influencers will also get involved by customising their own glove and the scheme will be promoted in schools.
Bill Sullivan, European marketing lead at IBM Interactive Experience, said of the platform: “There was a massive focus around Do It Day, what we could do on Do it Day, what could be achieved on Do It Day and you could see after that had been done, after we launch the app, there is the opportunity to market that out to schools to start to grow and to other media partners. The other judges could see finite opportunities around crowdsourcing.”
Winning team: Daniel Philpott, Serious Ideas; Rebecca Priest, 360i; Jo Jamieson, Harvard; Oliver Long, Radley Yeldar; Matthew Payne, We Are Social; Barry Pilling, Telegraph Hill
Plan It Day was sponsored by Clear Channel, Bima, Digilant, Millennial Media, Undercurrent, Wunderman and Yoyo. To see how this plan and others like it are put into action, join us at Do It Day.
Photography by Bronac McNeill