Hey Wonderful’s Sam Cadman Takes Metabo HTP Undercover to 'Bring Back Shop Class'
It’s no secret that the US is facing a growing shortage of skilled labor. Just try and hire a contractor to build that backyard shed you’ve been dreaming about and you’ll see what the problem is. So power tool manufacturer Metabo HPT, a KOKI Group brand, has teamed up with the agency Team One to launch a purpose-driven campaign titled “Bring Back Shop Class.” The goal is to champion hands-on learning and career pathways in the skilled trades. The brand has partnered in this effort with the Shop Class Foundation, the initiative that calls for restoring shop class as a core pillar of public education while providing training, mentorship, and tools to help prepare students for successful high-demand, skilled roles.
“Metabo HPT supports and celebrates our great tradespeople and their craftsmanship,” said Bill Wyman, Chief Marketing Officer, KOKI Group. “For too long, college has been framed as the primary route to a successful career. ‘Bring Back Shop Class’ highlights the need for students to have a real-world path to build their future in the trades. Through our partnership with the Shop Class Foundation, we’re helping make that opportunity a reality for the next generation of builders.” The campaign is powered by a new partnership with the Shop Class Foundation, a nonprofit that immerses students in framing, electrical, plumbing, and finishing.
To demonstrate the value of teaching young people how to excel in the skilled trades, Metabo HPT partnered with Hey Wonderful director Sam Cadman, known for his deft work with hidden camera assignments. Using classic techniques to mask the cameras, as well as devices like Glasses Cams and an earpiece feeding live lines to the kids as they talked to real homeowners, the production became a genuine tightrope act—an experiment in keeping the secret that these “50-year-old pros” were actually teenagers in disguise.
One graduate of the SCF program, Daniel Monfort, discovered a passion for electrical work and is now in training to be an electrician. “I’ve always loved building with my hands, but I was unsure about my career options. Thanks to the Shop Class Foundation, I found my path,” he says. “Their training gave me the skills to do what I love and build a career that makes a real impact in my community.”
Monfort’s story took center stage in “Shop Class: Undercover,” the short film that launched the campaign. In the spot, he and an improv actor go undercover in Hollywood-quality makeup to pose as seasoned tradespeople on real construction projects. Their craftsmanship and confidence impress homeowners until a surprising reveal shows the builders are teenagers. The film underscores a powerful truth: when you give young people real training with real tools, you give them a real path to the trades.
“Success isn’t just confined to corner offices, it’s also in the hands that build our communities,” says Jason Stinsmuehlen, Executive Creative Director Team One. “Alongside Metabo HPT, we’re reigniting the role of shop class and sparking a nationwide call to bring it back into public education. We’re challenging the next generation to see trades as they are: vital, opportunity-rich careers worth striving for, in an industry with more than 500,000 high-paying jobs waiting to be filled.”
“This shoot was both a unique and rewarding challenge,” says Cadman. “We brought together real homeowners with genuine construction jobs and a real teenage graduate of the Shop Class Foundation, in convincing middle-aged prosthetics to help bring awareness to shop class and help the next generation. Making that all happen at once, getting the camera coverage needed while remaining utterly invisible, all in the Nevada heat – phew! Daniel and Devon, our improv actor, were incredible, both as skilled contractors and on-camera talent. Our Team One creatives were a clever source of funny ad-libs and one-liners. Together, we were like the A-Team of hidden-camera, stalking the streets in our window-tinted van, proving beyond doubt there’s a generation of young talent more than ready to step up to the plate.”
CREDITS
Agency: Team One
Associate Director of Business Affairs - Janet Anderson
Copywriter - Zach Boyd
Associate Creative Director - Patrick Dougherty
Chief Creative Officer - Chris Graves
Executive Producer - Sascha Peuckert
Executive Creative Director - Jason Stinsmuehlen
Senior Project Manager -Yumi Tamashiro
Director, Content Production - Sam Walsh
Production Co.: Hey Wonderful
Director – Sam Cadman
Founder / Managing Director – Michael Di Girolamo
Partner / Executive Producer – Sarah McMurray
Line Producer – Angela Jones
Director of Photography – Matthew Wolf
Post (Edit/Finishing) Company: PS260
Editor - JJ Lask
Managing Partner - Zarina Mak
Executive Producer - Zeke Bowman
Producer - Dylan Scott
AE's - Alli Miller and Peter Tarricone
Mixer - Nicole Pettigrew
