The construction industry is mostly project-based, meaning it’s common for workers to move from project to project and employer to employer. In recognition of this, Portable Long Service Leave is an initiative between the construction industry and South Australian Government that allows workers to take their long service leave with them from job-to-job, so long as they stay in the industry.

Formerly known as “Construction Benefit Services” — a name that research showed held little recognition in its target market — we were engaged to re-name, re-brand and re-launch the organisation with a focus on increasing awareness of the initiative.

With the need to educate the construction industry needing on the function of the organisation, we took a decidedly direct approach to naming with the introduction of “Portable Long Service Leave”. We then introduced a caravan graphic device to visually represent both “portable” and “long service leave” and introduced the coupling tagline: “Take it with you.”

As part of the re-brand process, we implemented an extensive range of playful promotional materials building on this foundation, including a “Don’t throw your leave away!” frisbee used as a giveaway at the construction industry’s annual picnic. We are also working with the organisation to commission a physical caravan that can be towed to such events, providing a physical, practical and high impact actualisation of the brand.

As a direct follow-on from this foundational project, we developed an integrated marketing campaign to re-launch Portable Long Service Leave to the construction industry. Titled simply “13 Weeks”, this campaign visually and memorably demonstrates how 10 years of construction work results in 13 weeks of leisure activities (i.e. “10 years as a bricklayer, 13 weeks in the Himalayas”) and uses this platform to educate the industry on its long service leave entitlements.

Within the campaign, we also included specific employer-focused messages highlighting the benefits of the initiative on worker productivity and satisfaction, which were targeted to industry magazines, direct mail and digital marketing retargeting the employer-related sections of Portable Long Service Leave’s website.

"The re-name, re-brand and re-launch the organisation has successfully increased employer and worker registrations by 15%, following 3 years of decline.

Rebranding had a remarkable impact on the culture of the organisation, attracting new and higher calibre employees and improving performance.

The organisation has increased its industry recognition and engagement, becoming a national leader among its state based peers. Portable Long Service Leave now holds top search engine rankings for many general industry keywords on a national basis.

The professionalism of outbound communications has improved, with it now easier to portray a single tone of voice, consistent brand, and messaging throughout the organisation."

— Adam Warchol, CEO