PPB June 2021

critical piece of building our economy back better and including everyone in the deal this time, especially small businesses that are badly hurting in this economy." The initiative is expected to create nearly five million jobs, which also means shifting the way youth are educated, and will greatly impact the country's ability to ramp up manufacturing. A 2018 report conducted by Deloitte found that 89 percent of manufacturing jobs were unable to be filled because of a lack of educated workers. The U.S. was once one of the world’s largest manufacturing hubs in the world. When WWII erupted, the enormous American manufacturing complex easily converted to wartime production. Automakers stopped making cars and instead began building guns, tanks and aircraft engines. During the war years, only 139 cars rolled off assembly lines compared to the three million automobiles manufactured in the U.S. in 1941. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, by the end of WWII, half of the world's wartime industrial production was in the United States. In the 1970s, many prominent American companies began offshoring manufacturing to maximize profits. By offshoring in countries with fewer labor and environmental regulations, the U.S. generated a profit large enough to offset the costs of shipping internationally. This worked perfectly for a consumer-led society obsessed with inexpensive goods. But concerns about product origins and social responsibility shifted American consumer priorities, and the U.S. is starting to rethink the value of reshoring manufacturing that can be done domestically. The plan to boost American manufacturing utilizes federal resources unseen since WWII. Global crises, such as WWII and the coronavirus pandemic, reveal how crucial resilient onshore manufacturing is for a country. According to Forbes , countries with dramatically different success rates when managing COVID-19 were much more likely to prioritize their own access to essential PPE and pharmaceuticals. But onshore manufacturing will not eliminate supply chain disruptions. According to Shiro Armstrong, director at The Australian National University, supply chains that are Ame r i can-made Pr oduc t s The Project Our client was a national advertising and marketing company in Washington, D.C., and the lead agency managing Census 2020 for the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census count takes place once a decade and the first was led by Thomas Jefferson in 1790, so this was 230 years and counting. Census 2020 was the first U.S. Census with an option for households to respond online, by phone or by mail. More than 332 million people were being counted in Census 2020. The initiative is to accurately count every living person in the United States and its five territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands). The count is used by the federal government to understand where every person is located, so that proper representation is given to their district, and equally important, to determine federal funding for schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, etc. There are 435 Representatives in Congress and billions of dollars being allocated. Promotional products were used for various purposes, the main objective being to create awareness, inspire and motivate individuals to participate. The Proposal There was a tremendous amount of leg work, research and upfront planning, over 12 months leading up to Stran being awarded that business. In August 2018, Stran was looking to get involved in big events and national campaigns, and decided to go after the U.S. Census. From an idea, with no contacts and no connections, we spent weeks doing homework and figured if we started earlier enough, we could get a Case Study: U.S. Census 2020, A Stran Promotional Solutions Success Story continued on page 30 One program brought Census Bureau statistics to life by teaching children in K-8th grade the importance of the Census. Andy Shape, president and CEO of Stran Promotional Solutions, shares how the distributor landed U.S. Census 2020 as a client and produced one of the company's most successful programs. 28 | JUNE 2021 | GROW