The 360 Recruitment Advertising Blog

Towards the end of 2008, we were asked to design and develop an employer brand for RCT Homes. The brief was challenging, budgets tight and timescales set in stone. We couldn’t wait.

Now, 18 months on, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at what we achieved and to give people the opportunity to see what can be accomplished through clear communication between a client and an agency, to reach and better still, go beyond expectations.

At 360º, our philosophy is get to know our client and their needs from day one. We give them a complete brand health check, prodding and poking every part of the business. Sometimes it tickles and sometimes it hurts but by the end of the examination, we know how it ticks and what needs to be delivered.

In RCT Homes’ case, we spent precious time with key stakeholders – everyone from directors to tenants – to highlight the good, the bad and the indifferent about the existing brand. We were introduced to a new set of values and the vision RCT had created, and it’s worth noting that RCT had already been working hard to promote change. So, with hours of video interviews, pages of notes and every piece of existing collateral under our arms, we were in a position to develop the messages needed to build a confident, trusting and focused brand.

Spidergrams were used to work towards a clear proposition.

Thorough and honest investigation is the best way to achieve a clear and strong proposition. We use a proposition to hang every piece of communication on so that everything is consistent and supports the values at every opportunity. We eventually settled on Built on Trust. Now, this proposition isn’t a headline or indeed a line that would appear on any work. It’s role is to act as a barometer for the creative team who use it to give them guidance as they explore avenues to best promote the values of RCT Homes and build the brand.

In terms of straplines, the strongest line of all was We’re better together. This underpinned the objectives of the values as well as being a positive, and inspirational mantra.

We used existing print material to create new designs and developed templates and brand guidelines to show how the look and feel reflected the brand. At this stage, the team had to think clearly about the needs of RCT Homes; how the materials would be used and what the tone of the communication should be. Designing a brand for a diverse workforce needs clarity and a quality that everyone feels comfortable with, notwithstanding the fact that it must all be trusted and embraced as a long-term plan and not a flash-in-the-pan initiative.

We developed a graphic device to represent the coming together of the company. This device would link sets of words as well as being a symbol of positivity, something that was at the heart of the objectives.

Linking words with the graphic 'plus sign'

So, how does it all come together? Below, you’ll see the manifestation of our work for RCT Homes, from the guidelines through to print and internal design communications.

A few pages from the Brand Guidelines

Vision and Values pack

Vision and Values Booklet with each value explained.

Wallet sized Vision and Values fold-out

Launch event

With the launch completed, our next task was to start producing internal literature and looking at how we create an office environment that mirrored the brand.

Print material, New Starter Pack

Print material

Internally, we have designed branding for the offices that encapsulates one of the RCT Homes values, namely Bold by using key words to use as decals on the office windows. This acts as an impactful reminder to staff of messages that will inspire and galvanise them.

Office Decals

Office Decals

Reception Decals

Unlike many projects we work on, a branding project like this can only be successful if it is maintained. If you like, it’s a living thing and it needs to be fed and cared for in order for it to thrive. We have a responsibility to support RCT Homes to ensure the brand remains in the detail. So everything from HTML emails, internal posters and any employee scheme needs to look and taste like the brand. The brand needs to adapt to change, change that might come through initiatives or necessity. The proof that a brand is working, is when you only notice it when it’s not there.

Quite an interesting Twitter campaign attacking Labour has begun in the past few days. A voice from 2015 imagines a dark future where Labour win the 2010 election and invites people to contribute on how that future might look.

I find it particularly interesting as the supporting poster campaign is very familiar. It has a very distinctive visual of five years being scratched, prison cell style, into a dark concrete wall with the headline ’5 more years hard Labour?’

A voice from 2015 poster campaign

This poster is very close to a concept we created for an article that ran in The Independent on Sunday a while back (read about it here, here and here – HEAR, HEAR, HEAR! ORDER!!).

Naff 'orf Gordon!

I’m not really suggesting any wrong doing here as this particular idea didn’t get published but it has been up on our blog and various other bloggers have linked to it on occasion too, so the idea has been out there and visible. But, you know, there’s no such thing as a new idea I suppose. Just ask the Conservatives. (In fact, as David Cameron is making it his business to chat to everyone at the moment you can ask him when he gives you a call).

David

For the fourth year in a row Argos are continuing with their successful ‘Choosy…’ Graduate Leadership scheme. And for the fourth year in a row 360 has been involved with communicating the ongoing success story of the scheme. This year we have been concentrating on improving the campaign microsite – www.wearechoosy.com has been upgraded to include past and present graduate career journeys and video profiles.

Read a full case study outlining our involvement in marketing the scheme below.

Argos Graduate Case Study

Challenge

360 Degrees Advertising was briefed by it’s client, Argos, to help them develop a campaign to attract a select number of high calibre individuals, who would be offered the opportunity to join a corporate career fast-track scheme to become the Group’s future business leaders. Our challenge was to both intrigue and encourage potential graduates to understand both the size and the variety of the opportunity that was on offer. Our brief emphasised the point that Argos were going to be very selective in deciding who they might bring on to the scheme – indeed, the point was made that they would rather not make an appointment than potentially bring on individuals that would not make the grade. The campaign was targeted to hire six graduates.

Solution

We needed to communicate to our target audience that Argos was being as selective as they were, so we developed a ‘cherry-picking’ concept around a single word – ‘Choosy’, married to a clean, aspirational design style. To further add intrigue, we omitted the Argos logo from most materials – including the front cover and the first few pages of the brochure. Print materials were supported by a microsite – www.wearechoosy.com that further emphasised the exclusivity of the scheme, with a consistent high-end design. The brochures were printed to a very high quality spec and were only ‘presented’ to potential candidates who had already impressed at the initial discussion stages.

Results

Results were impressive – in the first year Argos recruited five exceptional leadership candidates, as well as a healthy talent database for other graduate-level positions throughout the business. ‘Choosy’ has become a staple recruitment tool for the attraction and selection of class leading candidates into the business. The campaign continues and existing recruits have been included into the solution as ‘brand advocates’ for both the business and the scheme.

David

The Y generation has grown up with technology, has no fear of it, and embraces any new developments with a passion not seen before.  This has a profound effect on the workplace.  Although this has brought opportunities to increase the bottom line it has also brought new risks.  If a company does not embrace these new technologies, as Clients/Customers expect, it can look out of touch.  However if it goes wrong or is not handled correctly it can be catastrophic, for example, lost discs can bring a company down.

The speed of growth of Facebook in a year, of approximately 230%  and Twitter just over 1300%, gives an indication of how quickly a new media can take off.

Employees now expect to use the internet routinely at work. This ranges form social networking; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn to online banking and shopping. They use information on the go via their phones and are in touch constantly with the world outside.  They will often know about new developments as soon as any IT department and before their managers in many medium to small companies.

The line is disappearing between personal and company use of the internet as social networking sites and blogs can be a source of new business contacts, information and innovation.  So how do companies obtain the benefits of this new media while protecting the productivity and integrity of the company?

The Benefits

A workforce that can adapt to new technology more quickly than any previous generation.  Marketing can be global with the touch of a mouse, information is at your fingertips.  Telephone costs can be slashed and communication with offices all over the world via webcams is changing the way companies are run on a global scale.  Complexities of foreign customs can be researched before a deal and the world has become a more accessible place.  Working from home is becoming acceptable as using the internet to link offices is now commonplace.  This saves costs of office space and time in travel.  In cases of emergency, this ability has been found invaluable.

The Security Threats

Malicious websites, systems overloaded with spam e-mails, sensitive information sent in error at the push of a button.

Legal

Penalties can be imposed if personal confidential data is leaked accidentally or on purpose.

Unlicensed software can result in large fines and unauthorised downloads can have attached viruses, increasing risk loss of data. Company insurance may also not cover this.  If employees download inappropriate or offensive material, this can cause HR problems with other staff who are offended.

Reputation

If staff or ex-staff post messages detrimental to the company, this can affect the Brand.  In a recession the image of a Brand is of paramount importance.  Those ignoring this do so at their peril. Large companies are now taking a proactive view of protecting their Brand.  Medium and small companies can also do this by building on employer/employee relations and making sure communication with their clients or customers is clear and understandable.

Be in Control

It is unrealistic and probably not good business sense in today’s world to ban all internet communication.  Most companies have firewalls and anti virus software in place but this can be breached  by someone opening a malicious e-mail or downloading non authorised software.  A clear and acceptable use policy is needed by all companies.  It is a false economy not to use an expert in this as the law is very specific in what you can and can’t do.  ACAS www.acas.org.uk has some useful tips and a helpline to assist with the formulation of a document, but it is safer to go to someone like www.peninsula-uk.com or a legal practice conversant with employment law to check any document to be used.  Staff need to be consulted and engaged in this process. How this is communicated will often determine the effectiveness of the policy.

Maureen

As you have probably noticed the Argos brand has undergone a refresh in recent weeks. 360 got the go ahead to revamp Argoscareers.com just before Christmas and the new look careers website launched on time on Friday 22 January – the day before the new Argos catalogue launch featuring the new Argos branding for the first time.

We are currently working with the HR team at Argos on a complete overhaul of Argoscareers.com which will rolled out in the next few months.

David

Here’s our worked up political ads as promised.

And here’s the final Independent on Sunday article – four of our ads made the cut, bit of a landslide really.

David and Mark

I'm the PM and £900 tax on families was my idea

Can you afford to be conservative?

In the 12th year of Labour...

Labour government to support

Labour government to support - Ambient campaign

Monster raving Labour party

Black and white and in the red all over

We'll be forever in your debt

Fight the blight

One of our earlier ideas had a good headline but the visual was pretty poor. Today I realised (whilst sitting in my car getting ready to present a new bus pitch) that maybe it doesn’t need a visual after all. In fact the concept was right there in the headline all along.

That's VAT. For now.

As Labour are probably going to attack the tories over their tax plans in the coming months, in fact they’ve already started, this seems to work particularly well.

We’ve opened up the brief to the rest of the agency now so it will be interesting to see what everyone else comes up with…

By the way, check out Benedict’s political advertising blog, I’ve been using it for research all week – it’s a fabulous reference source.

David

This time last year we were approached by The Independent on Sunday to produce some mock political ads for an article that ran last Christmas. At the time we were feeling very bah humbug about Christmas and maybe this came across in some our ideas.

With the upcoming election next year The Independent are planning to revisit the article and have asked us to have another crack at the politicians. And with the pre-Budget report of yesterday ringing in our wallets we’re more than happy to have a few stabs.

So this time I thought it would be fun to post our ideas and scamps as we go along but seeing as we haven’t even started yet here’s some we thought of last year. You can download a PDF of last year’s article below and remember to check back in the coming days to see our scribbles.

Mock political ads

David

Red or brain dead?

Open wide...

We're all doomed I tell you

Brown underpants for Christmas. Again.

Belt up!

The way people interact with each other and brands has changed completely. Your online reputation is just as important as your personal reputation and in fact the two are becoming more and more linked. If somebody has a bad experience with a brand these days they will no longer just tell their friends down the pub they will post it on Facebook or tweet about in Twitter and if that feed snowballs the brand can very quickly end up with a PR disaster on their hands. Check this out if you don’t believe me.

People are already talking about your brand online. Employees (ex-employees) and potential candidates will all have a personal experience of  your employer brand and if they don’t they will be searching for other opinions and experiences online. Are you regularly monitoring your employer brand reputation? If not, you really should be.

There are many ways you can monitor what is being said about you or your brand. Here’s a few simple free ways to get you started. Google Alerts, Twitter Search, Technorati and Friendfeed. And just this week Google has launched Google Social Search. What are you waiting for?

And just in case you remain unconvinced about the popularity of social media, take a look at this real time tracking widget created by Personalize Media.

David

Organisations understand branding – they recognise it as the lifeblood of their competitive offer. But it only counts if it is believable.

Indeed, the Economist recently commented – ‘At its best this means caring about, measuring and understanding how others see you, and adopting what you do to take account of it, without abandoning what you stand for. At its worst it means putting a cynical gloss or spin on your product to mislead or manipulate those you seek to exploit’.

It is our belief that an organisation should treat their Employer Brand with the same level of care, integrity and investment as they do with their Corporate Brand.

On the 22nd and 23rd of September 2009, 360° will be attending ‘Employee Engagement & Employer Branding 09′ as a main sponsor. The event will be held at the Hilton London Canary Wharf hotel. At the Employee Engagement & Employer Branding 09 event you will learn about the proven cost-efficient tools and techniques that global award-winning speakers have used to move their business forward. Hope to see you there.

David