Rhode Island trade group offers marketing for millenials

This summer, the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association will launch a new marketing program designed for millennial participants.

The goal of the six-week Marine Trades Marketing Summer Work-and-Learn Program is to allow participants to develop skills and gain exposure to the marine industry and its career opportunities.

Participants also will contribute a much-needed youth perspective to the marine-career marketing campaign “Choose Your Office.”

“The marine-trades work force and its customers are definitely graying — so as an industry we are challenged to rethink how we promote boating and its careers to young people,” RIMTA CEO Wendy Mackie said in a statement. “This program is an important building block: it is a valuable learning and networking opportunity for participants and also a way to build a perspective on how our industry connects with the younger generation.”

The six-week program, which is open to participants ages 17 to 24, is coordinated by RIMTA and run in partnership with the University of Rhode Island College of Business.

The program requires a 20-hour-a-week commitment and runs from July 7 to Aug. 16.

The program is a paid work experience made possible by a grant from the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island. Individuals who are interested in water-based recreation, marketing, public relations and communications — including social media — are encouraged to apply to the program.

Participants will take part in field trips to local businesses and attend workshops with industry marketing experts who will serve as mentors, including Jonathan Banks of Wavelink Marketing; Patricia Yeoman of Nautor’s Swan USA East; Susan Daly of Slipstream; and Neal Harrell of Brooks Marine Group.

Participants also will work in small teams to develop a strategy for RIMTA’s “Choose Your Office” campaign, a marketing effort launched in 2013 to increase awareness of career opportunities in the marine trades. An on-the-water segment of the program at Sail Newport with Team Sail LLC will give participants firsthand experience with the skills and excitement of boating.