Aviva: Internal Graduate Referral Scheme
How to nab a bunch
of graduates.*
How to nab a bunch
of graduates.*
*And get paid for it.
*And get paid for it.
Aviva: Internal Graduate Referral Scheme
How to nab
a bunch of graduates.*
*And get paid for it.
The situation
Back in the days when it was called Norwich Union, the client wanted to create an internal campaign encouraging staff to introduce any graduates that they knew to the company to start their careers.
As with many refer-a-friend campaigns, staff were incentivised with a financial reward for every successful application.
So far, so normal.
But "normal" is usually forgotten about. It's mentioned once or twice a year at the weekly team meeting. It's a stunningly average poster that's just about clinging to the canteen pinboard. Or it's in a "send-to-all" email that sits in the inbox and remains unopened.
They wanted something that couldn't be ignored.
Client
Aviva
Sector
Recruitment advertising
Services
Art Direction
Graphic Design
Awards
RAD Winner
The situation
Back in the days when it was called Norwich Union, the client wanted to create an internal campaign encouraging staff to introduce any graduates that they knew to the company to start their careers.
As with many refer-a-friend campaigns, staff were incentivised with a financial reward for every successful application.
So far, so normal.
But "normal" is usually forgotten about. It's mentioned once or twice a year at the weekly team meeting. It's a stunningly average poster that's just about clinging to the canteen pinboard. Or it's in a "send-to-all" email that sits in the inbox and remains unopened.
They wanted something that couldn't be ignored.
Client
Aviva
Sector
Recruitment advertising
Services
Art Direction
Graphic Design
Awards
RAD Winner
The situation
Back in the days when it was called Norwich Union, the client wanted to create an internal campaign encouraging staff to introduce any graduates that they knew to the company to start their careers.
As with many refer-a-friend campaigns, staff were incentivised with a financial reward for every successful application.
So far, so normal.
But "normal" is usually forgotten about. It's mentioned once or twice a year at the weekly team meeting. It's a stunningly average poster that's just about clinging to the canteen pinboard. Or it's in a "send-to-all" email that sits in the inbox and remains unopened.
They wanted something that couldn't be ignored.
Client
Aviva
Sector
Recruitment advertising
Services
Art Direction
Graphic Design
Awards
RAD Winner
The solution
The campaign was timed to run just before the graduate recruiting season, and the word "season" became our springboard for the creative work.
Rather than using regular stock shots of graduates graduating, mortarboards being thrown into the air, fake plastic scrolls being held, why not turn grad season into a hunt? The more grads you can find, the bigger the reward.
But how do we hunt graduates without it coming across as something from Camp Crystal Lake or a Wes Craven film?
We decided to get a bit "Looney Tunes" with our thinking. Wile E. Coyote was our inspiration, but we were hoping that our plans might be somewhat more successful than his Sisyphean pursuit of Road Runner.
As we weren't talking to graduates directly, we could play with student clichés (traffic cone stealing, Pot Noodle slurping, cheap booze drinking and hungover telly watching), and turn them into cunning traps, without patronising students. At the same time, giving our internal audience some ideas of how to hunt for some grads. (They could always just talk to any grads that they knew, but it wouldn't be as much fun would it?)
The creative was brought to life by illustrating all the graduate-hunting traps in a bold, graphic, Looney Tunes-style, set against a bright, brand-coloured background. The campaign posters were placed, plonked, and plastered in prominent areas across all Norwich Union offices up and down the country.
The solution
The campaign was timed to run just before the graduate recruiting season, and the word "season" became our springboard for the creative work.
Rather than using regular stock shots of graduates graduating, mortarboards being thrown into the air, fake plastic scrolls being held, why not turn grad season into a hunt? The more grads you can find, the bigger the reward.
But how do we hunt graduates without it coming across as something from Camp Crystal Lake or a Wes Craven film?
We decided to get a bit "Looney Tunes" with our thinking. Wile E. Coyote was our inspiration, but we were hoping that our plans might be somewhat more successful than his Sisyphean pursuit of Road Runner.
As we weren't talking to graduates directly, we could play with student clichés (traffic cone stealing, Pot Noodle slurping, cheap booze drinking and hungover telly watching), and turn them into cunning traps, without patronising students. At the same time, giving our internal audience some ideas of how to hunt for some grads. (They could always just talk to any grads that they knew, but it wouldn't be as much fun would it?)
The creative was brought to life by illustrating all the graduate-hunting traps in a bold, graphic, Looney Tunes-style, set against a bright, brand-coloured background. The campaign posters were placed, plonked, and plastered in prominent areas across all Norwich Union offices up and down the country.
We also brought our cunning traps to life with installations in offices on the campaign's launch day.
We also brought our cunning traps to life with installations in offices on the campaign's launch day.
We also brought our cunning traps to life with installations in offices on the campaign's launch day.
The results
Unlike dear Wile E. Coyote, we were much more successful and managed to nab, grab, yoink and hunt down all the graduates that were needed for that year's intake.
The campaign even caught the attention of that year's creative judges at the RAD Awards, where it won Best Internal Communications Campaign.
And as far as I'm aware, no grads were injured during the hunt (which is what the ACME lawyers told me to say).
Winner
Internal Communications
The results
Unlike dear Wile E. Coyote, we were much more successful and managed to nab, grab, yoink and hunt down all the graduates that were needed for that year's intake.
The campaign even caught the attention of that year's creative judges at the RAD Awards, where it won Best Internal Communications Campaign.
And as far as I'm aware, no grads were injured during the hunt (which is what the ACME lawyers told me to say).
Winner
Internal Communications
