Later this month we celebrate the brightest and best in recruitment advertising at the RAD Awards 2023. Here’s a rundown of those shortlisted for the Single Use of Video award.
Powered by Me, Empowered by BT – Ph. Creative
BT Group wanted to create a campaign that would drive more applications from women to become engineers, and in January 2022 reached out to the central recruitment marketing for help. There were around 1,000 employees in engineering services, but only 1% were women.
Powered by Me, Empowered by BT aimed to showcase the role of engineers in connecting people one another, particularly since the pandemic. It was decided that one ‘hero’ video would play a central part in the campaign. Further short videos would show one-to-one interviews with employees’ stories and be used as organic content alongside paid activity. Some clips were used across both streams of activity and the campaign was transmitted via feed ads, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The campaign was split into two with the first stream going live between March and mid-April, and the second from 1 June to 22 June. The campaign attracted 741,877 impressions across different audiences including school leavers, ex-armed forces, people in admin jobs and those wanting a career change. Video represented 21% of overall traffic, and the hero video for over 10% of the traffic for the campaign. BT hired 23 women out of the 99 jobs offered, or 25% of total hires.
We’re Just Like You – SAP
SAP is a German software company employing 110,000 people across 140 locations. In 2022, its target was to ensure 50% of hiring was into early career talents (ECT). This covers students, interns, graduate programmes and roles that require less than three years’ professional experience. The company faces competition for talent from the likes of Microsoft and Google, and potential candidates outside Germany may lack awareness of what the company does.
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Winners will be announced on 26 January at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
The company needed to create a video explaining who SAP is that could be played at on-campus events and pushed out on social media. The final video shows a diverse range of young talent coming together to change the world, encompassing three of the organisation’s EVP pillars: Succeeding Together, Shaping Tomorrow and Serving the World. SAP employees were used as extras and the head of global employer brand appears in one scene.
The video was launched in May 2022 and has attracted more than 3,700 views on YouTube. SAP’s LifeAtSAP accounts on Facebook, Instagram,TikTok and WeChat built almost 45,000 further views. 234 visits were made to the SAP careers site as a result. One campaign in Germany generated 868 clicks to jobs at a cost of $5,000, with a clickthrough ratio of 0.71%,compared to the average of 0.46%.
Screwfix Make More of Yourself – 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.
‘Make more of yourself’ was Screwfix’s existing employer brand strapline and this was retained. Alongside its new employer brand, it created a manifesto which celebrated the fact workers were as “varied and valued” as the 32,000 products on the company’s shelves. A 60-second video celebrating the strapline was created, celebrating the people that make Screwfix what it is. It showed employees working together, laughing together and overcoming obstacles in their day-to-day environments.
The film played an integral part in the launch of the new employer brand. Two months in and applications had increased by more than 400% from 1,500 to 6,400.
Unlocked Graduate Leadership Programme – SMRS
Unlocked Graduates is working to break cycles of reoffending by identifying candidates to work as frontline prison officers for two years. It wanted to attract 2,300 completed applications, with 30% of those from underrepresented groups. A further target was to garner 1,300 entries to an on-campus competition in collaboration with Rate My Placement.
Central to this was a fast-paced hero video that inspired graduates to choose a career where they could make their contribution count. This meant the organisation could tell the Unlocked story in an engaging way and give candidates an impactful and inspiring message. The market was tough: 48% of employers reported seeing fewer applications than usual and there was a 20% increase in graduate opportunities from 2019.
The campaign attracted 2,343 applications, with 38% from underrepresented groups. There were 7.4 million impressions including 2.2 million on TikTok. Further results included almost 80,000 views on YouTube and 70,408 clicks online. TikTok featured the video in its creator studio as an example of an excellent ad.
Westminster City Council All Kinds of Extraordinary – TMP Worldwide
Westminster City Council is at the heart of one of the UK’s most diverse areas and wanted to ensure its recruitment reflected the community it serves. It wanted to show WCC as somewhere where people can truly be themselves, whatever their background. It wanted to show its EVP “all kinds of extraordinary” was more than words on a page.
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It chose to show the story of Shofa, a WCC worker whose brother suffered with mental health problems and died tragically young. She was inspired to create the Westminster Youth Market, an inclusive platform where local teenagers learn about entrepreneurship and develop their personal skills.
This film generated impressive results: 55% of all offers at senior level identified as female; 37% of senior level vacancies attracted a candidate from an ethnic minority, up 7% year on year, and two-thirds of internal vacancies were filled. At the same time, advertising costs dropped by more than 40%. The same messaging is being used internally, raising awareness of the opportunities available to employees, and has substantially increased internal mobility.
