In a world that tracks gains, why not highlight your museum-quality failures instead? That's the path Lowe's Canada is taking to recruit workers amid the country's labor shortage.
Intent on hiring 5,000 employees this year, Lowe's Canada and Sid Lee launched "Make Yourself Fail-proof," a recruitment campaign targeting Gen Z.
The campaign crux is "The Hall of Fail" exhibit, where disastrous DIY projects take center stage in a museum-like setting... inside a mall. The summary of each piece always has the artist wondering what could have been, had they actually learned DIY skills by working at a Lowe's, RONA or Réno-Dépôt.
"Lowe's wanted to offer more than just the typical job perks," says Joëlle Laferrière, creative copywriter, and Joanna Chrysocheris, senior art director at Sid Lee. "They wanted to give Gen Z an opportunity to acquire useful skills that would help them get further in life. With that in mind, we decided to create a series of fails that would prove that learning as you go has its limits. Training has always been part of Lowe's onboarding process. Not only do all new employees get training when they begin, but they also get paid for it."
The exhibition was held from Feb. 25 to March 2 at Galeries de la Capitale in Quebec City.
Renovation failures included painting your closet shutters while your clothes are inside, installing a toilet seat upside down, placing three single light switches next to one another, and resurrecting invisible bookshelves with a little duct tape.
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