Case study

DEFRA – Bring On Change

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Views

662k

Daily Applications

+108%

Hires

57+

Highlights

How we injected some fun into Defra’s policy professional recruitment campaign

1
662,823 views
2
108% increase in average daily applications
3
57 successful hires and counting

Challenge

Heavily impacted by Brexit, and suffering from a debilitating lack of Policy professionals, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) urgently needed to get their message out to candidates.

But there were additional challenges to contend with:

1
Defra had already run several policy campaigns and, with a number of other departments recruiting for similar positions, the policy professional talent pool was dry.
2
Audiences outside the Civil Service were generally unaware of what it meant to work in a policy position, or even that they had the right skills to apply.

Solution

How we collaborated

1
Our Employer Brand and Insights Team conducted external and internal research to learn how potential candidates viewed working with Defra, and what was important to current employees in the role.
2
Our Client Management Team worked closely with Defra to understand what their challenges were, and what the most effective solution might look like. Educating our audience about the breadth of work Defra gets involved with, the huge scope for impact, and the environmental benefits were key USPs we needed to showcase.
3
Our Creative Team focused on delivering something that would stand out from the usual ‘head and shoulders’ crowd.

What we delivered

A little passion goes a long way

Using the voices of real Defra employees, we developed a playful stop motion film that communicates both the diversity and impact of Defra’s policy work, and of the people that do it. As well being an engaging and – for this market – game-changing way of getting our messages across, creating animated ‘campaign badge’ characters enabled us to:

Provide immediate visual cues for the types of issues Defra works on.