Creative Director, Jake Beyhl has been involved in a lot of high-profile work, as well as community projects in his 15(ish) years at Simantel. But the one consistent thread through it all is authenticity. That’s why when he was approached by a long-time Caterpillar client to create a campaign to help change how people view hard work and recruit technicians to maintain the machines that build our world, he knew the messaging had to be honest and authentic, but also disruptive.

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In this story, Jake shares how a casual conversation with his client over drinks about their shared desire to kick it up a notch and work with someone in the industry who gets it—who understands how to market—and is easily recognizable, turned into an AdAge award-winning campaign with Mike Rowe.

In his quest for authenticity, Jake traveled across the country to capture the real stories of real people; the best of the best technicians for Caterpillar. Their stories became part of a dealer technician recruitment campaign that demonstrated the valuable role skilled technicians play in keeping the world’s infrastructure running like a well-oiled machine. And Rowe helped drive attention. It was the perfect complement to the work he was already doing to address the skilled trades gap through his foundation, mikeroweWORKS.

In the end, the work served as a catalyst for pushing the Cat brand further. The campaign was successful in terms of driving leads, but perhaps even more importantly, it helped to forge a strong relationship, founded in trust, between our agency and the client.

To hear more, head over to MarketingSweats.com and check out our very special Season 6 where you can hear a full interview with Jake and other Simantelites as they share their point of pride in celebration of our 40ish anniversary. Learn more about Jake.