People are your superpower

You know that the way prospective candidates experience your Brand is important (you wouldn’t be reading this otherwise!), but did you know how important video is to your Employer Brand strategy?

Turns out that job ads with video report 800% more engagement than those without, and that algorithms across the internet, including social, prioritise video ahead of all other content. It doesn’t have to be Hollywood every time – we’ve seen success with UGC, animation and even techniques like archival or cinemagraphs (a budget-friendly way to feed those video-hungry algorithms!) – but it does need to be honest, creative and watchable.

Across social media and job search tools like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, job seekers now have the tools they need to cross-reference a company’s claims about who they are with the real experiences of current and former workers.

Any inauthenticity causes dissonance that can be dissuading to possible candidates, and demoralising to employees. So why not tell the truth?

If your company is competitive, why not lean into that? If you think that sustainability is more complex than the headlines suggest, then it’s much better that you explore your nuanced view than ‘greenwash’ it –  informed audiences online will thank you for your honesty.

Be yourselves, and don’t just follow a trend.

That same honesty and authenticity goes for your brand story too. You may not have contributed to a moon landing (hello IBM!) but even a dream forged over shots can be a compelling story. We certainly thought so when we made this series of films for Honest Burgers.

It might seem easier to reach for the ‘brand voice’ – senior leadership, HR or recruitment specialists – when searching for someone to deliver your Employer Brand message, but we think, when it comes to video, that ‘brand voice’ should stay in your values document.

We believe that the little bit of extra research and casting it takes to find just the right employees to tell their stories can make all the difference when making an authentic and emotive case and, this way, your Brand’s values can be expressed compellingly through your people. In fact, Edelman’s trust barometer in 2023 found that employees voices are three times more trusted than those of CEOs.

To see BP in the Netherlands through the eyes of its workforce, we shot new recruits in a fresh energetic style that was designed to work on social.

How you show up around the big issues of the day can be incredibly important, especially for large internationals seeking to engage the best talent. Finding those stories, and showing what you do, rather than just telling people about your intentions can be a powerful way to connect authentically to the things that people care about.

For HSBC, we used animation to bring the delicate subject of mental health in the workplace to light.

Whether it’s animation, documentary, or even UGC, for Employer Brand we think the same rules always apply:

• Don’t be afraid of the truth – it’s the key to the right connections.
• Find a compelling story, and the right person to tell it.

Get in touch if you’d like access to the full study or to see more best practice examples.