Take a look at our 2020 winners and finalists.
Havas People - WSP (Winner)
THE GOAL: To ensure engineering graduates, who are looking for a role where they can use their curiosity and creativity in purposeful ways, have engineering consultancy WSP at the top of their job search.
WSP wanted to capture the excitement of student engineers with an original, creative concept that mirrored the company’s craftsmanship and aesthetics as it re-imagined the future; an idea that would excite and stand out at university fairs and online. The result was the Future Cities concept.
The judges were impressed with the virtual world Havas People created from the ground up. An intelligent, beautifully crafted game that sees participants answer a series of questions around their future hopes for travel, the environment, technology, transportation and their own careers. Each answer informs the construction of their own Future City – while accompanying feedback explains what WSP is doing in these areas.
Six cities are featured, each one starting out as a sketch, designed on WSP’s knowledge of what might and will happen to our cities in the future, then from the colour drawing, working with a 3D artist to animate it through to the final detailed render, the outcome was a result of a lot of hard work and time in the art direction.
Not only was the objective of raising awareness achieved, from over 4,600 game participations, there were nearly 2,600 visits to the WSP Careers site coming directly from the game.
Shortlist
CA3 - SmartestEnergy
Havas People - Standard Bank
makelove - Yandex
Penna - GCHQ
SMRS - Unlocked (Winner)
THE GOAL: Choosing to be a prison officer after graduation is often met with negative reactions from family and friends alike. The aim was to change this perception and convince high-potential graduates to turn their attention to a career in the prison service.
To make the brief even more challenging, Unlocked wanted to reach untapped groups, especially male and BAME candidates. Video seemed the most appropriate medium to attract and grab the audience.
Words were therefore vital and the script took viewers on an emotional roller coaster – plunging and soaring from astonishment to approval, intrigue to rage. The dialogue was cleverly overlapped to create a continuous stream of reactions, time and again breaking mid-word to merge into a different word, a fresh point of view and a new emotion every time.
The judges thought the slick copywriting manged to change people’s perceptions about working in a prison by pushing boundaries, making the language relate to everyday people and bringing a lovely twist to the message.
The story kept on flowing, and kept the audience on its toes. It was also a little bit cheeky, because it flirted with almost swearing a couple of times.
The cheeky approach certainly worked, attracting more than 409,000 views on YouTube, 1,700 submitted applications, with 36% from males and 26% from BAME candidates.
Shortlist
Penna - GCHQ
TMP - NHS
TMP - Vodafone
TMP - The AA & PeopleScout (Winner)
THE GOAL: To attract the attention of large numbers of potential passive candidates who might never have considered a career with The AA in the head office, contact centre and roadside.
The AA’s Ready for ANYTHING message was a bold claim and needed a bold concept. The Ant Middleton 24-Hour Live Interactive Adventure was designed to be employer branding brought to life in an innovative way, using social media and tech in an ambitious new concept.
Ex-special forces soldier and TV personality Ant tested six AA employees to their limits through intense and challenging situations, which were streamed live across social media. The public and potential external candidates were able to influence the intensity of the challenges, engaging and inspiring both new and current AA employees.
To build excitement, the campaign teased both internal and external audiences with posters, films and emails, as well as short video clips, and also used Ant’s extensive social media reach.
An excellent campaign that turned an employer brand into a live experience and was unlike no other, said the judges. The live event received public interest and was a bold campaign with impressive results from applications across four targeted sections.
The results speak for themselves: 2.3m views on YouTube, 1.25m post reach views on Facebook, leading to a surge in applications across the board. Apprenticeship applications were up 193%, roadside up 143%, head office up 228% and contact centre applications were up an amazing 230%.
Shortlist
Blackbridge Communications - Rolls-Royce
Havas People - Crown Prosecution Service
Tonic Agency - Metropolitan Police
SMRS - Unlocked (Winner)
THE GOAL: To convince high-potential graduates to turn away from a career in the City and become prison officers instead. At the same time, the number of applications from men, BAME and courses outside social science also need to increase.
It was decided that ‘honesty was definitely the best policy’ to get Unlocked’s message across. Many of Unlocked’s current graduates had experienced negative reactions when they’d first announced their chosen career path, so it was vital to show the positive side as well.
The judges thought the concept stood out from the rest, particularly when dealing with a difficult sector to recruit into for high-potential graduates – a prison service.
The idea was to put both at the heart of a flagship video, which topped a digitally-led campaign. Using everything from YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat, to programmatic and Spotify, the campaign got people talking.
Taking the message on campus, a bespoke buzzer game was created to put potential candidates’ reactions to the test and spark plenty of conversations. The campaign then became even more more targeted. Using YWare (a data visualisation tool), SMRS discovered which courses Unlocked recruited candidates from, which universities offered these courses, and which had the best male and BAME representation. And so the campaign could find the hard-to-reach audiences with curated content.
As well as smashing its targets – for example, 152% increase in adverts seen from digital activity, 79,571 clicks on adverts (290% up from the previous year) – candidates were talking about the video in assessment centres, proving that something truly memorable had been created.
Shortlist
AIA Worldwide - M&S
Blackbridge Communications - Newton
Pink Squid - Chivas Brothers
Symphony Talent - Mars
Symphony Talent - Sky
TMP - Vodafone
Stafford Long & Partners - Secret Intelligence Service MI6 (Winner)
THE GOAL: Although the James Bond franchise creates a lot of interest in MI6, women and people of colour come away with the impression that only macho white males can work for the intelligence agency. It was time to change that perception.
In conjunction with Secret Cinema – the cultural phenomenon turning popular films into huge, sensational, interactive experiences, in highly secret locations – the campaign would target this audience. After months of negotiating, MI6 grasped the opportunity to advertise to the public – and Secret Cinema revealed its location of the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, in advance, so the message could be promoted to audiences.
The creative process had to be put in place in record time, as the location was given out in an extremely tight timeframe. All in all, there were 62 live adverts running concurrently, catching people unawares on their way to and from their Casino Royale experience. The posters ran for 12 weeks, meaning the audience couldn’t miss the promotion.
The posters not only added to the audience’s sense of fun but surprised them a little and in a subtle, playful way, challenged their preconceptions – all while linking not just to the Bond film’s visual style, but to the brand line: Secretly, just like you.
The judges really admired the execution, especially given the logistics of managing a highly-sensitive client and top-secret location. Pulling this off, and within a tight timeframe, deserves a lot of credit, they said.
Although there can’t be any detailed figures, for the first time in the organisation’s history, more women applied than men.
Shortlist
makelove - MTS
TMP - The AA & PeopleScout
Havas People - WSP
THE GOAL: To make student engineers aware of the influence WSP has – and the influence they could have by working for WSP – by tackling the challenges that keep society thriving.
The idea had to impress the crowds at university fairs but also widen the net, in terms of audience, by existing as original, breakthrough digital content.
Six cities were created for the game, each designed from WSP’s knowledge of what could, should and will happen to our cities in the future. That included everything from sustainable infrastructures to mobility, open spaces to underwater dwellings and personal well-being to always-on connectivity.
The judges loved the Future Cities concept with its modern, fresh design and impressive gamification, with all content relating to what WSP does executed in an enticing manner.
By creating it as a progressive web app, Future Cities achieved something that was app-like in appearance, user experience and responsiveness, but negated the need for students to download and install an app – an obvious barrier to engagement. And unlike an app, it works on any platform, is discoverable by search engines and more readily shareable.
As well as producing more than 300,880 impressions served through social promotions and over 40,800 social post engagements, it drove 2,594 visits to WSP’s career site via the game.
Shortlist
makelove - SKOLKOVO and MTS
Stafford Long & Partners - Barclays
X5 Retail Group
TMP - City of London Corporation (Winner)
THE GOAL: To reduce barriers to entry and attract a more diverse workforce, including more BAME representation, more millennials, increase the number of senior female employees and progress social mobility both internally and externally.
Even though staff were proud to work for the organisation, with the careers site as it was, the City of London as an employer was seen as being an outdated organisation. The site needed a complete overhaul and it was high time for a perception-changing employer brand.
In its rebranding, the City of London Corporation was repositioned as a destination of career choice for everyone, regardless of background, ethnicity, gender or orientation. It also showed its breadth and reach beyond the Square Mile, highlighting its open spaces, animal reception centre, markets and schools. It certainly is ‘The City of whatever you make it’.
Such an accessible and engaging message needed a careers site to match. So a site was created that improved accessibility to applications, simplified and partitioned information, and allowed specific and relevant engagement across both roles and sectors.
Film content was crucial to driving engagement on the site. A complex, multi-location film was created, which showed City of London staff across a variety of places in the City, reflecting the diversity of the City and the people who work and live there – and highlighted the surprisingly wide variety of opportunities.
As a result, the active sessions were 69% above average for number of sessions. The Homepage received 58,000 impressions and drove 53,000 to the ‘search and apply’ button and 4,000 applications.
The judges thought the site produced straightforward navigation for a recruitment website and producing impressive results, particularly in page view benchmark and application rates.
Shortlist
CA3 - SmartestEnergy
Sanctuary Personnel
Ph.Creative - GVC (Winner)
THE GOAL: To rehaul the career websites, which were confusing and failed to communicate who GVC was in relation to its brands, and gave absolutely no insight into the culture of the business or the people who worked there.
In addition, the aim was also to reduce cost per application, increase quality of hire, and contribute to the macro goals of the global talent attraction team and its business goals.
A single, global careers site was needed that enhanced the reputation of GVC as an employer, educating the audience about the many world-famous global brands under its umbrella. The site had bring to life the global employer brand and provide information around global opportunity and showcase the amazing culture and stories of the people that worked at GVC.
Where the old site was text heavy, short videos from employees now peppered the site, bringing authentic, everyday experience from those who worked at the company. The videos not only engage but entertain prospective candidates, giving them an understanding of what it’s like to work at GVC.
The judges saw striking improvements to the website – it was now modern, easily accessible and visually impressive. In the first month alone, there were 84,000 individual site visits, an amazing 300+% increase on the previous site. Visitors were coming in via numerous ways, with more visits made via mobile, proving the new look translated well across multiple devices.
Shortlist
AIA Worldwide - AstraZeneca
AIA Worldwide - Enterprise
AIA Worldwide - Three
Blackbridge Communications - Aviva
Pixel Fridge - Transferwise
Ph.Creative - GVC (Winner)
THE GOAL: With 23 distinct brands within the organisation, all with their own cultures and workplace practices, GVC needed the new employer brand to bring the fractured and siloed workforce together, while preserving the individual brands.
The employer brand, ‘For the Good of Entertainment’ – aligning people internally across brands, offices and countries – was in place; GVC now had to drive awareness, understanding and recognition of the message internally.
Ph.Creative’s idea was to create intrigue and conversations with an internal teaser campaign, backed up by an emotive launch film to create emotional engagement and pride among employees. Finally, the company threw the biggest party it had ever thrown for colleagues: GVC One.
The campaign made use of every channel available, even rolling the new brand imagery onto desktop backgrounds, screensavers and lockscreens overnight, so that when employees came in the next morning they would instantly be asking each other questions and talking about what was happening.
A set of cryptic teaser images, with a number sequence, deployed on GVC’s internal intranet and employee communication platform, Huddle, worked well, generating conversation and intrigue. Employees eventually figured out this was a date, and on the day of the launch the brand film was pushed out company-wide.
The judges said the campaign was fun, energetic, vibrant and memorable. The whole execution brought the concept and brand to life, and the countdown featuring employees and brands across the world really cemented the cohesive nature of the solution.
Shortlist
eArcu - CLIC Sargent
eArcu - Macmillan Cancer Support
Havas People - Costa Coffee, The Leadership Signature
Havas People - Costa Coffee, The Soundtrack
Penna - GCHQ
Symphony Talent - Mars
X5 Retail Group - Covid-19 comms approach
X5 Retail Group - Healthy Week
Symphony Talent - Mars (Winner)
THE GOAL: Despite being told by employees that there is an instant sense of belonging, the lack of awareness among graduates for Mars’ early talent programmes and opportunities, as well as the unique culture, needed to change.
The brief was to create a social media campaign, that could be easily adapted across local markets, to position Mars as an employer of choice in regions across the globe. It had to promote the range of opportunities available across different leadership programmes and, crucially, it had to show off Mars as an exciting place to work.
What better way to get to know the Mars culture than by seeing it through real Early Talent Associates’ eyes? Eleven Mars Insiders were chosen from different programmes (Internships, Functional & General Leadership Experiences), who each had a dedicated Instagram or Weibo account that could give an inside view into their programmes through behind-the-scenes pictures, videos, stories and content.
The Insiders were each sent a content kit to help them create high quality social content. Candid, energetic, story-led executions featured heavily. A campaign landing page was created on the Mars careers website to promote the Insiders to a global audience. It featured the profiles of the Insiders with a link to their account, as well as a ‘Ready to meet your match’ quiz matching candidates to the Mars Insider they should follow based on the programme that best fit their interests and ambition.
As a result, the global campaign successfully achieved its primary objective of increasing awareness about the exciting student and graduate opportunities available at Mars. Astonishingly there were over 3.5m social impressions, nearly 9.4m digital impressions, 14,454 Insider followers, leading to more than 2,700 sign-ups to the talent pool.
The judges said the campaign was very well thought through and the way they focused the campaign to particular regions and targeted specific audiences based on the regions was impressive.
Shortlist
AIA Worldwide - M&S
Blackbridge Communications - CMS Law
Entroxy - Sainsbury's Digital, Tech and Data
Penna - Richmond Council and Wandsworth Council
Stafford Long & Partners - Hogan Lovells
TMP - The AA & PeopleScout
TMP - Addleshaw Goddard (Winner)
THE GOAL: To attract high-quality graduates– both law and non-law students – and separate the law firm from its competition by bringing out its ‘personality’ and highlighting the fact that it was described by its new trainees as not ‘beige’.
With many of Addleshaw Goddard’s competitors focusing their attention online and through digital channels, the campaign went ‘old school’ and used the tactile quality of print to encourage engagement through real conversations between students and reps on campus.
As part of ‘Bring your Colour’, the campaign included unusual assets such as a ‘good deed’ card that encouraged candidates to show AG how they’ve ‘brought their colour’ to the world via Instagram, and a popular mindfulness colouring-in giveaway, setting AG apart from the ‘work till you drop’ attitude of stuffy law firms. These thoughtful, intriguing printed assets brought AG’s difference to life and far removed from the ‘world of beige’ legal fare.
They were certainly unexpected campaign materials for a law firm, said the judges. ‘Bring your colour’ was full of very elegant illustrations and good craft execution, and AG certainly stands apart from its competitors.
The interest generated from the collateral was impressive, attracting a diverse pool of high performing candidates from varied academic backgrounds. Although graduate applications are still open, applications for placement schemes have increased by 19%. There has also been an increase in applications from BAME candidates – in fact, the Leeds office had double the number of applications from BAME candidates.
Candidates were also impressed with how open AG were to different personalities and how students felt comfortable putting their own personalities across.
Shortlist
Blackbridge Communications - Newton
Ph.Creative - GVC
Symphony Talent - Mars
Havas People - Costa Coffee, The Soundtrack (Winner)
THE GOAL: To communicate Costa’s new values of passion, courage, warmth and trust to its increasingly diverse and global business, in a way that not only raised awareness but also led to teams truly acting on them.
Turning to the power of music to translate Costa’s new values into an everyday experience was an innovative and original idea, the judges said. Using music as a medium has an extraordinary transformative effect on people, changing the way we feel, think and act in a matter of seconds.
With this in mind, the campaign set about developing four values-inspired tracks that Costa’s teams could listen to whenever they wanted. Making them feel warm, passionate, courageous or trusting – whatever the moment called for.
After speaking to team members to discover the type of songs, sounds and rhythms that evoked the feelings of passion, warmth, courage and trust in their everyday lives, Havas People teamed up with a music composer and behavioural scientist to determine the composition of each track. Each would be based on the principles of autonomous meridian sensory response (AMSR) whereby audio is used to trigger certain sensations and feelings.
The sounds from Costa Coffee stores were also recorded and incorporated into the tracks.
The Soundtrack was launched with a teaser video and then a launch video a week later. To generate a bit of a buzz we also ran a competition, asking teams to identify the Costa sounds that feature in each track. An anthem – Now Is The Moment – was also introduced, and all the tracks are now used throughout the business, with great engagement from team members across Costa stores and offices.
Shortlist
Blackbridge Communications - Newton
TMP - Kent County Council
Tonic Agency - Metropolitan Police
Blackbridge Communications - Rolls-Royce (Winner)
THE GOAL: To raise awareness among school leavers and encourage greater social engagement, increase the percentage of BAME and female applications, and boost engagement with parents and teachers.
Back in 2018, Rolls-Royce launched its new corporate and people brands, focusing on ‘Pioneering the Power that Matters’ and delivering ‘Beyond Tomorrow’. The early careers campaign was the first external work to be rolled out using the new brand.
It also laid the foundations for a new set of videos in 2019, specifically to promote apprenticeship opportunities. Short and shareable, these videos would create an authentic and relatable narrative path that could be tuned to different audiences and would play out well across social media.
Each set would address one of the three core questions candidates (and influencers) ask about Rolls-Royce apprenticeships: Is it for me? What would I get out of it? What does it actually involve?
Ten 60-second videos – Meet me in a Minute – feature quick-fire interviews with an apprentice on light-hearted and serious subjects. Next, 18 Ask an Apprentice videos attempt to encourage dialogue, with apprentices answering questions candidates would most likely ask. Finally, the 14 RR4Real ‘selfie’-type videos are engaging, behind-the-scenes scenarios, all filmed by the apprentices themselves on their mobile phones, giving an insight into the life and work of Rolls-Royce apprentices, the environment and machines they get to work with.
The judges said winner’s apprentice campaign was well targeted and effective, with a good number of engagement and applications, and producing a positive click-through rate. It was a smart idea to use the apprentices themselves to reach out to the target audience.
Shortlist
Sanctuary Personnel
SMRS - Deloitte
Tonic Agency - RBS (Winner)
THE GOAL: Combining tech innovation and powerful gamification to bring to life a progressive approach to early careers development and transform student engagement and achieve ambitious recruitment targets.
Through building the most exciting experience possible, the campaign aimed to increase the number of applications from BAME, STEM and female students, and attract more applications from Scottish students.
The ‘Find Your Path: Make it Your Own’ AI interactive arcade table used the latest object identification systems and app technologies to discover personalised career pathways based on user actions. The table game toured around a number of key UK universities, using RBS ambassadors as hosts.
The fun, quick and informative engagements stopped traffic in high footfall areas, and allowed RBS to have valuable conversations with students who wouldn’t normally have considered financial services for an internship or graduate programme. The table’s four-player capability became all about reactions and interactions.
There was great success with the table on campus, generating more than 500 interactions, but more significantly showing an increase in female awareness, with 45% of those visits coming from this audience group and an additional 1,000 applications compared to last year.
The judges said it was a really engaging campaign, showing good evidence of the early careers audience using the game – an innovative and clever concept with interesting use of AI automation, they added.
Shortlist
makelove - MTS
Ph.Creative - GVC
Symphony Talent - Sky
TMP - The AA & PeopleScout
CA3 & Eli Onboarding - Natwest Group (Winner)
THE GOAL: To look for new and innovative ways to improve the onboarding experience of interns and graduates, to better help them prepare for work, reduce stress and anxiety, and help new hires feel like part of the business before day one.
Most of the Natwest Group graduate intake start their careers in one of the main hubs in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester, often not setting foot there until day one. The challenge was to make them feel like they had. The Natwest Group needed something truly immersive to accomplish this goal, so it was decided to investigate 360° video.
Viewers would be able to scroll around while the video plays, as if they were standing exactly where the camera sits. On phone and tablet, viewers simply move their devices around to interact with the environment and see more. For a fully immersive experience, grads could simply throw on their VR headset and feel like they’re standing there for real.
The Natwest Group’s current grad cohort were called upon to create the video in the most authentic way possible. They were tasked with writing the script and starring in the video, which is part tour, part tips and all personality for each of the Natwest Group hubs.
The Welcome to Manchester video has had 27 views from the 30 students starting their career there. Welcome to Edinburgh has had 80 views from 110 grads, and Welcome to Birmingham, 10 from 11.
The Natwest Group also noticed a reduction in the number of graduates reneging on offers (when compared to last year’s intake). So, not only are the videos preparing graduates for work at the Natwest Group, embedding culture, reducing stress and anxiety, they’re also saving the Natwest Group a lot of money in the process.
Shortlist
CA3 - SmartestEnergy
TMP - Diageo
Penna - Security Service MI5 (Winner)
THE GOAL: To increase the diversity and percentage of applications from under-represented groups from security service MI5’s cohort of talented school-leavers, generating more awareness reassuring them about ‘fitting in’.
The solution was a multi-channel campaign that spanned a whole range of media – focusing on three videos, which give a generic message that spoke to MI5’s audience.
After some research, it was decided to craft the scripts like spoken word poetry. It’s a style that’s incredibly popular, gathers rhythm and pace, is inspirational – and powerful. So we adopted a whole new tone of voice and tackled some misconceptions head on – becoming a little less MI5. By talking to the audience in a way they were comfortable with, the videos instantly broke through some barriers and put fears of ‘not fitting in’ to rest.
Tied up with an overarching message of ‘I Can’, everything was geared towards making under-represented groups feel welcome. The chosen actors represented diverse backgrounds and helped candidates to see ‘people like them’.
The judges were impressed with the winner’s well executed videos, which they found was extremely engaging for the target audience of talented school leavers. And to date the campaign has attracted well over 1,000 applications already.
Shortlist
Blackbridge Communications- CMS Law
Blackbridge Communications - Rolls-Royce
CA3 - SmartestEnergy
TMP - Vodafone
Pink Squid - Capgemini (Winner)
THE GOAL: To change the enduring ‘old boys’ network and dated culture where discussing issues such as bullying, harassment and abuse of power among others were considered taboo.
In combatting inappropriate behaviour in the corporate workplace, the judges felt Capgemini was brave in calling it out. Building on its existing ‘Think. Ask. Act.’ Campaign, Capgemini’s video took an interesting approach coming from the point of view of bystanders, people observing and witnesses, to fuel the conversation around these ‘taboo’ issues, and encourage colleagues to break the silence around this kind of behaviour.
With the narrative directly voicing the viewer’s perspective, it didn’t sound like anything from HR. Instead, by being brave and not holding back, Capgemini created something which encouraged bystanders to stand up.
The anthology approach allowed Capgemini to tell a number of stories based off real life incidents at Capgemini. Not only did this help to create authentic content, but it kept the message grounded in reality.
As a result, Break the Silence picked up a huge level of buzz internally and kickstarted a huge culture shift; 2019 was the first year where Capgemini had seen an increase in non-compulsory registrations for its diversity & inclusion workshops.
The video also influenced the decision to elect 16 Respect and Inclusion ambassadors at senior level chosen to push this culture shift. And Capgemini started to take the campaign externally and deliver this initiative to its clients.
Shortlist
Alexander Mann Solutions – BAE Systems
SMRS - Unlocked
TMP - Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Tonic Agency - Metropolitan Police
Ph.Creative - GVC (Winner)
THE GOAL: Often relying on the power of its brands to recruit, applying to work at Coral on a Ladbrokes Careers site, with a contract supplied by GVC, was not a great candidate experience. The company had no cohesive employer brand.
The task was to align people internally across brands, locations and countries, building a talent community around a relatively unknown brand and attracting the best talent into the business for future growth and success.
Through research across a broad range of employees and brands, the campaign created assets to share across GVC’s digital channels, featuring bespoke art-directed photography that stops people in their tracks, showcasing its diverse team and the character at the heart of our business.
With a catchline of ‘For the good of entertainment’, the idea was to improve awareness throughout GVC globally, driving higher-quality applications as a result of recommendations from its own staff, based on innovative use of video and imagery.
As well as a teaser campaign, useful and stylish merchandise was designed for employees to use, bringing the employer brand to life in communal areas, global receptions and meeting rooms too. A bespoke portal, ‘GVC Backstage’, was set up, providing a centralised resource and bringing the brand accessible to everyone.
Within the first three months of the new brand launch, there were nearly 19,500 job applications, with an average conversion rate of 18%, and 84,000 visits to the career site alone – an impressive increase of 300%.
The judges felt the winner of the best employer brand produced very good results, remedying the confusion that external candidates previously experienced and offering a great candidate experience.
Shortlist
Havas People - BP
Pink Squid - Novo Nordisk
SMRS - Balfour Beatty
That Little Agency - Telegraph Media Group
That Little Agency - Toolstation
Tonic Agency - Dixons Carphone
CA3 & Crunch Digital Media - Expedia Group (Winner)
THE GOAL: To attract Japanese students (fluent in spoken Japanese and English) from Japan and overseas, without the Expedia Group Japan (EGJ) talent acquisition team travelling over to the Boston Career Forum to recruit students for its Market Associate Internship programme.
Brand awareness among the target audience in Japan was extremely low in, with 42% having no knowledge of Expedia Group and a further 32% only having heard the name. In addition, the current careers website had no Japan-centric information.
As only 30% of EGJ’s target audience actively searched for opportunities online, any campaign needed to capture the attention of the remaining 70%.
The creative campaign, ‘Destination Expedia Group’, focused on the fact that interns can make a real impact and feel an important sense of achievement during their internship at Expedia Group. It also overcame the challenges and pre-conceptions highlighted in the research.
Candidates were driven to a dedicated campaign microsite, full of content generated by five EGJ ambassadors to prove the authenticity of their claims. As a result, brand awareness among the identified target audiences increased massively, with 8 million impressions over the life of the campaign, generating 70,000 clicks.
In Japan specifically, there were 3.23 million impressions helping to raise the profile of Expedia Group as a local employer. The campaign generated a total of 1,118 applications, at a cost of £32.66 per application. All positions were filled.
Shortlist
AIA Worldwide - Co-op
Blackbridge Communications - Aviva
Symphony Talent - Sky
TMP - Virgin Media
t&s creative communications - Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Pink Squid - Capgemini (Winner)
THE GOAL: To change the company culture away from an enduring ‘old boys’ network to one where inappropriate behaviour was called out and those responsible of not showing respect and inclusion were rightly being held accountable.
Capgemini and Pink Squid built on its existing ‘Think. Ask. Act.’ campaign, which has helped fuel the conversation around ‘taboo’ issues such as bullying, harassment and abuse of power, and encourages colleagues to break the silence around this kind of behaviour.
Capgemini shot a diverse range of scenarios from the perspective of the bystander, some of which were based on true incidents at Capgemini. This unflinching and honest approach meant that the end result bought these very real experiences to life and was hard to ignore. One of the testimonials said: “You could’ve heard a pin drop after the video had finished...”
The judges thought the ‘Break the silence’ campaign was brave and bold, and the video format was the perfect platform to spread the hard-hitting message.
Break the Silence picked up a huge level of buzz internally, which kickstarted a huge culture shift, changing the cultural perception of Capgemini and opening the door to more diversity & inclusion in recruitment. It was also the first time where Capgemini had seen an increase in non-compulsory registrations for its D&I workshops.
The video also influenced the decision to elect 16 Respect and Inclusion ambassadors at senior level chosen to push this culture shift.
Alexander Mann Solutions - Santander (Winner)
THE GOAL: To improve on the poor Social Mobility Employer Index rating and embrace the recommendations, which centred on being more transparent about what social mobility means to get the message across.
Santander wanted its apprenticeship programme to be at the heart of the strategy – an attraction campaign that had diversity, inclusion and mobility at its centre. The campaign would position Santander as an employer where progress was a tangible reality, regardless of background.
The creation of a selection of ‘Our Journey’ videos were centre stage of the approach, bringing to life the real stories of genuine Santander apprentices. Filmed on location in Santander offices, their homes and popular hangouts, the apprentices talk openly about their background, influences and experiences with the bank.
Far from just gathering positive testimony about Santander’s apprenticeship programme, the films act as a powerful conversation starter and positioned the topic of social mobility as central to the bank’s recruitment strategy.
Finally, to bypass any existing biases in the assessment process, the names of schools and universities were removed to make the process completely neutral, until the candidate actually starts on the programme. New digital assessment centres were also introduced, with a new, gamified testing system. And alongside all of this was an animated video to simplify the apprenticeship assessment process, while further reinforcing the social mobility message at the same time.
As a result of the campaign, the bank has now climbed into the top 20 of Social Mobility Employer Index – now out of 75, not 50, employers! Additionally, diverse applications have increased by 10% compared to 2018 and 36% of applicants came from a household that did not go to University.
The judges felt time invested in videos was impressive, getting them to appeal and have an emotional connection with its target audience.
Shortlist
Blackbridge Communications - Rolls-Royce
Symphony Talent - Sky
Havas People - WSP (Winner)
THE GOAL: To make student engineers aware of the influence WSP has as the smart, revolutionary place to work and how they too could become influential in tackling the challenges that keep society thriving.
The Future Cities concept was an intelligent use of technology, a well-crafted game that sees participants answer a series of questions around their future hopes for travel, the environment, technology, transportation and their own careers (amongst other topics).
Six cities were created for the game, each design based on WSP’s knowledge of what could, should and will happen to our cities in the future. That included everything from sustainable infrastructures to mobility, open spaces to underwater dwellings and personal well-being to always-on connectivity.
By creating it as a progressive web app, students didn’t have to download and install an app, despite it being app-like in appearance, user experience and responsiveness. It also reflects the revolutionary approach that WSP brings to real-world projects. It wasn’t just ‘on-brand’ – it brought the brand to life.
Results showed 82% game completions (3,781 of 4,611 participants), with 69% of those who completed the game visiting the WSP Careers site.
And not only did the campaign meet its main objective of raising awareness of who WSP is as an employer through participation in the game, it created a huge amount of interest internally. One department is going to recreate the cities and print them in 3D, while WSP is also looking at re-purposing the concept for the US market.
Shortlist
Blackbridge Communications - GVC
eArcu
Socially Recruited
Joao Rodrigues, National Crime Agency (Winner)
Since 2019, Joao has led the largest HR transformation in the NCA’s history. He’s revolutionised the agency’s recruitment processes, moving from a reactive to a fully proactive, optimised model.
The judges said it was fantastic what Joao has delivered across the year. He very quickly became recognised as a true expert, able to gain the trust and confidence of the Directors General to deliver ambitious recruitment goals in line with the vision for the agency’s future.
He delivered a hugely successful recruitment campaign – ‘No Predator Too Big’ – and launched a fresh, exciting employer brand. Creating a brand new recruitment function, he drove the candidate experience through a new Candidate Engagement team, leading to introduction of candidate packs, a new recruitment pipeline process, improved customer engagement and an introduction of a candidate pool.
The results speak for themselves, particularly with the applicant increase. Compared to the previous year, applicants were up +286% (39,877), successful candidates at the shortlisting stage rose +161% (7,317) and successful candidates at interview stage were up +131% (2,872). Finally, withdrawn or failed posts were down -55% to just 291.
The judges said achieving the scale of transformation and speed of change makes Joao a well-deserved winner of HR Professional of the Year.
Shortlist
Sarah Cheyne - The Adecco Group
Laura Matthewman - Bupa Care Services
John McNally, Ph.Creative (Winner)
What sets John apart is that he takes time to know not just the brand, but the individual stakeholders, showcasing his ability to bring the client on his creative journey. The judges liked that he’s always pushing the client into unfamiliar territory, which has led to some exceptional work and incredible feedback from clients.
Since joining Ph.Creative in 2019, John has made a real and lasting impact. He wasted no time diving into live projects and building relationships with the team internally and also clients. His passion for his work shines through – he’s eager to impress, understands the client relationship angle, and he knows how to communicate effectively.
By always pushing the client into unfamiliar territory, this has led to some exceptional work and some incredible commentary from CEO level and at every client touchpoint. This has already culminated in his being shortlisted for a dozen industry awards since his 18 months at Ph.Creative.
A client testimonial sums up John’s work and dedication: “John’s creativity just seems to come so naturally. He brings words and pictures to life through his passionate descriptions and personal stories. Honestly, a true gentleman and an absolute pleasure to work with.”
A worthy and impressive winner of Creative Professional of the Year, concluded the judges.
Ruth Faulkner, Tonic Agency (Winner)
Leading the charge on key accounts, Ruth impressed the judges with her passion for content – knowing her subject inside and out, and striving for perfection in everything she does.
When people talk about passion and enthusiasm for their cause, there are always certain people who spring to mind, who can bring everyone else on a journey with them. Ruth is one of those people. She strives for perfection in every piece of work she does; she really gets to know the client, and embodies everything that it takes to be a Wonder Worker.
Ruth has another passion as well, and a big one at that. Content. When a spark was ignited working for London 2012 in their communications team, Ruth looked at how she could bring that knowledge into her current working world. So much so, that Ruth is now spear-heading Tonic’s content offering and spreading her enthusiasm around the employer branding world.
Her dedication has taken her around the world, including visiting three countries in one day and running a global photoshoot for a client across India, New York and Manila. While in her spare time she also volunteers with the Planet Earth Games, an environment-themed multi-sport youth event.
She is indeed a worthy winner of the Account Management Professional of the Year award.
TMP (Winner)
Being bought by an overseas company could have been a huge distraction for some businesses. In 2019, TMP transitioned into a new parent company and, at the same time, not only retained its clients but won over 20 new accounts due to its phenomenal creative output and meeting its customers’ needs.
The business had to get to grips with new technology platforms, structures, systems, management reporting and leadership – not to mention making the transition a success. And it was determined not to get lost in a much larger corporate entity.
During this time of transition, half of TMP’s top 20 client contracts were due to end, leading to re-tenders and pitches. This clearly posed a significant threat to the business. But due to the hard work and creativity of TMP’s teams, all contracts were extended or renewed.
The quality of its creative work was widely recognised, winning numerous awards at the major recruitment marketing festivals.
TMP also continued to deliver best practice for its customers, staff and community. Such initiatives include developing pro bono campaigns to support recruitment to local charities, offering paid work placement to pupils in disadvantaged schools and colleges in London and Bristol and raising more than £10k via social and sponsored activities in the offices for local charities.
Shortlist
Blackbridge Communications
Ph.Creative
Tonic Agency
CA3 & Crunch Digital Media - Expedia Group (Winner)
THE GOAL: To attract Japanese students (fluent in spoken Japanese and English) from Japan and overseas, without the Expedia Group Japan (EGJ) talent acquisition team travelling over to the Boston Career Forum to recruit students for its Market Associate Internship programme.
Brand awareness among the target audience in Japan was extremely low in, with 42% having no knowledge of Expedia Group and a further 32% only having heard the name. In addition, the current careers website had no Japan-centric information.
As only 30% of EGJ’s target audience actively searched for opportunities online, any campaign needed to capture the attention of the remaining 70%.
The creative campaign, ‘Destination Expedia Group’, focused on the fact that interns can make a real impact and feel an important sense of achievement during their internship at Expedia Group. It also overcame the challenges and pre-conceptions highlighted in the research.
Candidates were driven to a dedicated campaign microsite, full of content generated by five EGJ ambassadors to prove the authenticity of their claims. As a result, brand awareness among the identified target audiences increased massively, with 8 million impressions over the life of the campaign, generating 70,000 clicks.
In Japan specifically, there were 3.23 million impressions helping to raise the profile of Expedia Group as a local employer. The campaign generated a total of 1,118 applications, at a cost of £32.66 per application. All positions were filled.
