27/05/2025
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The ‘Wow I made that!’ campaign set up by the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) to attract young people into the joinery industry has won the 2013 ‘Electronic Communication of the Year Award’ at the Trade Association Forum awards.
The BWF's campaign was established to provide information, advice and guidance to young school leavers interested in a career in woodwork and joinery. After research among employers, schools, pupils and parents, BWF decided that Facebook and Twitter would be the two most accessible social media platforms to reach young people and the people who influence their career options. These channels are supplemented with a range of quality videos via YouTube which tell the story from the point of view of young apprentices who have just started out in their careers.
The 'Wow I made that!' Facebook page shares the latest relevant apprenticeship news, interviews with joinery and woodworking apprentices, links to other joinery and woodworking YouTube videos and fascinating pictures of what can be made with wood. Facebook users have also shared joinery and woodworking related content by posting onto the page.
Linda Cavender, Manager of the Trade Association Forum said:
“BWF identified a real need to recruit more young people into the UK joinery and woodworking industry and their ‘Wow I made that!’ campaign ticked all the boxes for the Trade Association Forum ‘Electronic Communication of the Year Award.’ The campaign was clearly well researched and took a highly targeted approach to tackling what is a serious threat to their industry.”
Dave Campbell, Manager of the BWF’s training arm the Woodworking Industry Training Forum (WITForum) said:
“The ‘Wow I made that!’ campaign is very important to us. As an industry we are facing a significant skills shortage in the future, and we do need to find new ways to reach out and engage with the next generation of talented people who we want to bring into joinery manufacturing. We felt the best way to reach these young people was through social media and this appears to have paid off. Winning the best practice award is a fantastic endorsement of our work and even more encouragement for us to continue the campaign.”
To see the campaign visit the Wow I Made That! Facebook Page or visit the pages on our website.
