Local Jobs First
Victorian Government | Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions
How do you show that a major government project creates opportunities far beyond the construction site?
Big infrastructure projects tend to be photographed from the air.
Cranes. Buildings. Stadiums. Hospitals.
For Local Jobs First, we looked a little closer.
Across a series of short case-study films, we captured the Victorian businesses, workers and apprentices contributing to major government projects and services across the state.
From stainless-steel fabrication for the Melbourne Park redevelopment and electrical work at Moorabbin Oval, to local manufacturing for the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the businesses behind Personal Alert Victoria, the series showed how government procurement can flow through to real jobs, skills and opportunities within local communities.
The idea was simple:
Make the policy visible through the people benefiting from it.
At a glance
5 short case-study films
Metropolitan + regional Victoria
Major government projects + local suppliers
Business owners + workers + apprentices
Interviews + voiceover + cinematic industry footage
Motion graphics + local impact statistics
Web / Social / Presentations / Stakeholder Events
The original brief called for five short films highlighting how local businesses and workers were benefiting from major Victorian Government projects, with filming across metropolitan and regional locations.
The Client Brief
Local Jobs First was designed to increase awareness of the opportunities created when Victorian businesses and workers participate in major government projects.
The challenge was that procurement policy can feel abstract.
Percentages of local content, contractual requirements and supply-chain targets may be important — but they don't necessarily help a small business owner understand what participation could mean for their company.
The videos therefore needed to turn policy into something tangible.
Each story would show a real project, introduce some of the Victorian businesses contributing to it and demonstrate the impact on jobs, business growth, apprenticeships and skills development.
The content also needed to work across government websites, social media, events and stakeholder presentations, which meant the messaging had to remain clear even when viewed without sound.
Our Approach
Start with the big project. Then find the people inside it.
It's the relationship between police and youth work.
Each film opens by establishing the larger government project or service.
Then we move quickly down the supply chain.
A stadium redevelopment becomes the story of a Ringwood manufacturer.
A new hospital becomes the story of local factories and apprentices.
A sporting facility becomes the story of an electrical contractor and a Victorian turf grower.
A statewide emergency-response service becomes the story of local monitoring, testing and technology businesses.
This allowed the scale of the government investment to provide context, while the people doing the work gave the story meaning.
We combined short interviews, voiceover, cinematic workplace footage, aerials and clear motion graphics, using on-screen statistics to reinforce the measurable local impact. That approach was built into the original creative response: strong industry imagery, authentic business voices and graphics communicating jobs and local content.
Make the numbers human
Government communications often have plenty of statistics.
The challenge is making people care about them.
So rather than treat figures such as 86% local content, 250 jobs or 30 Victorian businesses as the story, we used them as evidence supporting the people on screen.
A percentage becomes a workshop.
A job number becomes an apprentice.
A procurement target becomes a Victorian business able to plan, invest and grow because it has secured meaningful work.
That balance between proof and people became the storytelling language of the series.