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We attended the annual conference of the Wisconsin
Chapter of AFS last week, and saw an outstanding presentation
by AFS National President Don Gaertner about how to improve
the image of the casting industry, and how to get more young
people excited about entering the industry. The presentation
was very stimulating-including examples of media images of
the casting industry (both negative and positive) and details
about the new Lynde & Harry Bradley School of Technology and
Trade in Milwaukee, whose curriculum will have a mandatory
metalcasting component. Don asked everyone to make a contribution
to the industry's efforts in industry and education.
One detail in Don's presentation really caught
our attention. As an example of powerful image marketing,
he held up the familiar slogan by BASF: "We don't make most
of the products you buy; we make most of the products you
buy better." We think he's right on target. Here at CastingTrade,
we've had some experience in the chemical industry, and we've
seen the enormous effort so many chemical companies have made
in the past several decades to get out of commodity chemicals
and into more profitable specialty chemicals. Most of those
specialty chemicals are unique products specially tailored
to add value for a narrow set of applications, and the benefits
they provide can be complicated to explain. Yet the BASF slogan
managed to encapsulate in a single sentence a momentous transformation
by an entire industry!
Don challenged the audience to help the metalcasting
industry come up with a similarly powerful slogan. After reflecting
on the diverse materials Don presented, we came up with "POURING
HOT METAL IS AWESOME!" Our thinking is based on three simple
ideas. First, the thing that makes the metalcasting industry
so unique, mysterious, challenging, and fun, is the use of
molten metal. No other industry can compete with us on this
feature. Second, this simple sentence combines two fashionable
words -- "hot" and "metal" -- that have positive connotations
for young people. Third, "awesome" conveniently serves as
a word that young people use to describe something they like
a lot, and it also happens to be literally true about pouring
hot metal!
Naturally, we think it would be "awesome"
if the metalcasting industry would adopt our slogan for its
public relations efforts. But the REAL reason for publishing
this suggestion is to stimulate more people to contribute
THEIR suggestions. All you have to do is go to www.castingtrade.com,
click "Bulletin Board," and enter your suggestion in the "Casting
Industry Image" area.
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