The thinking behind Jobsite’s new TV creative

Very good, isn’t it? This isn’t the only execution, but more about this later.

TV is an incredibly powerful medium. We started running TV ads in October 2008 and since then have – not only through TV but through all our activities – increased our brand awareness from 31% to 73%. Our searchable CVs have increased from 500,000 in September 2008 to 1.85million today and we’ve seen an extra 1.6 million people register with us.

Let me give you some background on the ads.

Before we started the process we took three key components into consideration:

1 – How do we want to evolve as a company?

2 – How do we compare against our competitive set?

3 – And most importantly: What’s going on in the hearts and minds of the job seekers and how can we connect with them?

Taking all of this into consideration, resulted in 5 key points:

1 – Inertia

All of the research shows that our “inertia” angle still resonates and, most importantly, has a strong emotional connection with our target audience. So in this campaign we’re expanding the inertia theme beyond moaning, but doing nothing, to also include:

• fear of moving on to a new job
• time wasting rather than looking for a new job
• fantasizing about a better job but not doing anything about it
• burying your head in the sand about the fact that you actually need to look for a new job

2 – Maximising Max

We continue to work with Max Beesley, as he is giving Jobsite real stand out, connects very well with viewers and gives us a real differentiation in terms of value and quality against the competition. The new creative is an evolution of the current ads with Max talking to camera but this time with no walking, no background noises etc. It’s all about him and what he’s saying, the twinkle in his eye and the smile on his face. This really plays on Max’s strength of connecting with people. This time around Max also mentions Jobsite, therefore the connection to the brand will be stronger and Max will become the spokesperson.

We also had the massive coup of securing the award winning Director Mike Leigh. Not only did he create ads of amazing quality with real impact but it’s also another factor which highlights our market leader status and sets us apart from our competitors.

3 – Emotional Recession

Individuals are currently going through an emotional recession – everything is shifting, everything is full of doom and gloom and everything seems out of control. That resulted in people wanting to have some peace, some rest, some laughter and a happy ending. That’s why we moved away from the quick cutting and loud noises to a quiet, calmer background. That’s why we wanted to ensure we were on people’s side and not on their case and why we wanted the smile and the twinkle in Max’s eye. That’s why we used positive messages. That’s why we are talking about uploading CVs – as this equals being in control -and combining it with “it only takes 10 minutes” as that shows the convenience.

4 – Modern

For me, radio for example is the past, but mobile is the future. Mobile phones represent 7% of Jobsite’s total traffic and we anticipate it to increase to 12% after Christmas. To tap into this market, to connect with candidates when they are looking for jobs and to give our hirers the reassurance and a demonstration that we are at the forefront of development, we shot specific ads just for mobile and a specific execution just for VOD.

We’re also running a 6 week display advertising campaign on Facebook using images from the new campaign. The demographic targeting of Facebook enables us to reach our target audience and we can reach candidates here that we can’t through other parts of the campaign e.g. light TV viewers.

5 – Memorable

Our category is hotting up and more and more of our competitors are waking up out of their period of inactivity, so it’s key that we stand out, that we are different and that we show that we are the boldest in the market. That’s why we focused fully on Max and drafted in Mike Leigh and also why we went for using 30 second and 10 second ads in conjunction. This enables us to deliver 600 TVRs for the price of 500 TVRs.

This gives us amazing reach of over 21 million ABC1 adults, with a person likely to see the ads 7 times on average during the 4 week campaign. It is planned to run from 10th January to 6th February.

Obviously, the creative will also be used on our website, other sites, in print, and rest assured, we will continue to engage via social and mobile as well.

If like me you can’t get enough of this ad (I’ve been doing the clown hands for months now!) here it is for you to take another look. Enjoy and keep your eyes peeled from the 10^th January when you’ll see this ad, plus three others, on TV, mobile & VOD.

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3. On hold: Making mobile mistakes
4. Guest blog: Mobile SMS – The Undisputed King of Applications by Michael Marlatt
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