As we build up to the 2023 RAD Awards in January, celebrating the best of the best in the recruitment advertising industry, we profile the employers and agencies shortlisted for the Employer Brand (National) Award, sponsored by Glassdoor.
AND-E – The Best Insurance Company You’d Never Heard of – BrandPointZero
Aioi Nissay Dowa Europe (or AND-E) is part of the Toyota family of companies and provides financial and motor insurance services. It wanted to increase its 800-person headcount by 2021 but its biggest challenge was lack of brand recognition in the UK. Many employees didn’t identify as working for AND-E itself as it operates under a number of different customer-facing brands.
BrandPointZero worked with AND-E to develop its brand framework and articulate its purpose, vision and mission – this was presented at an all-employee roadshow in March 2022. Its research included 12 leadership interviews, five employee focus groups, coming up with a people and culture strategy, and reviewing its rewards package. It encapsulated its offer as ‘Empowering you today, so we can lead the way tomorrow’. More than 50 employees became the ‘face of AND-E’ across a range of assets and materials to be used for internal marketing and candidate attraction.
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There has been no change in attrition, which is positive in a tight labour market, and agency hires are down from 28% to 10%. Internal hires have increased from 24% to 30% and there has been a significant reduction in recruitment costs. The People and Culture team now has solid foundations on which to build the UK employer brand, with a powerful identity and the right channels and platforms in place.
DE&S Your Ambition Leads Here – Stafford Long
Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) delivers some of the world’s most advanced defence equipment. Stafford Long & Partners needed to create an employer value proposition (EVP) that showcased the importance of this complex work to the nation’s security. A discovery process included workshops on diversity and inclusion, social media use, attraction strategy and the organisation’s website. The team also looked at DE&S’ public image and its existing brand work.
New concepts were refined with DE&S and tested with internal focus groups and external audiences.The new brand needed to make candidates aware working in defence did not mean the frontline, to attract niche skill sets, to put D&I at the heart, to highlight exciting STEM careers and to attract candidates in Bristol, where there are on average 5,000 engineering vacancies per month. The new EVP became ‘Your ambition leads here’, and comprised four pillars: Lead for the nation; Lead change; Lead your own way; and Leading in inclusion.
The new branding was used across a range of platforms, including career development animations, department-specific films, and a spotlight on life and work in the engineering team. Content was refreshed every month based on insights from tests. Social, paid search and programmatic ads drew more than 10 million impressions, there was a 70% increase in applications for commercial roles, and 21% more CVs received. Applications from under-represented groups also went up.
Pizza Express/Express Yourself – ThirtyThree
PizzaExpress, like many hospitality businesses, faced a tough couple of years during the pandemic. The sector has become less attractive to candidates, and the company wanted to create an employer brand that aligned with its consumer brand. It spoke to a group of senior leaders and 34 employees across a range of front-of-house and back-of-house roles.
It came up with a ‘Restaurant Value Proposition’ with four key messages: Be the energy (personality); Grab the opportunities (development); Belong in our family (culture); and Grow with us (growth). An employer brand of ‘Express Yourself’ was created to show that PizzaExpress is somewhere that everyone is welcome, no matter their age, background or culinary persuasion. Headlines focused away from pizza and on the great experience colleagues help to create.
Social messages featured real PizzaExpress employees showcasing how they are empowered to express themselves at work. It used TikTok to pose questions about perks (and pizza) to the employees, who became stars in their own right. The TikTok campaign attracted more than 1.3 million impressions in just two months and a conversion rate of 1.69%.
Make More of Yourself – Screwfix & ThirtyThree
Screwfix’s consumer brand had recently had an overhaul, and ThirtyThree was tasked to give its employer brand a makeover. The consumer brand, ‘The choice of champions’, celebrated the craft and commitment of the tradespeople who rely on the retailer to support their business.
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‘Make more of yourself’ was Screwfix’s existing employer brand strapline and this was retained. The new employer brand needed to celebrate the people who make the company what it is – their skills, achievements and personalities. One of the qualities that kept surfacing during interviews was confidence – people felt trusted to get on with their job and supported to reach their career goals. The result was a series of bold photo-based ads with slogans such as ‘Bossing it’ and ‘Master of his craft’, featuring real employees.
The ads represented the welcoming and inclusive culture and appeared in store, on social platforms and online. The careers site was also refreshed, and ThirtyThree created a film featuring the employee ‘stars’ to reinforce the message. The number of started applications have increased over 400% from 1,500 to 6,400 over the initial two months of the campaign.
