Recruitment Marketing is a crucial aspect of the talent acquisition process, and more employers than ever before are investing in new marketing strategies to attract, engage and retain top talent. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is one of the firms that has done a great job in building a unique employer brand and adopting modern marketing approaches to promote their value proposition as a great place to work.
That’s why we invited Robin Dagostino to present at our RallyFwd Virtual Conference on May 10, 2023. Robin shared her strategy for reimagining global talent acquisition through local impact. This strategy won over the RallyFwd audience and also won second place in the 2023 Rally Awards for Best Recruitment Marketing Campaign, Large Team.
In this blog post, we’re excited to share Robin’s Recruitment Marketing strategy with you, what was involved in putting together this global campaign, what she and her team learned and a few takeaways that you can use at your organization.
Rally Note: If you’d like to see Robin’s full presentation, “Reimagining Global Talent Acquisition Through Local Impact,” watch RallyFwd On Demand.
Meet the Speaker
Robin Dagostino, Senior Director of Employer Branding & Marketing at BCG
Robin Dagostino is the Sr. Director of Recruitment Marketing and Employer Brand at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she leads a talent value center focused on developing and executing global strategies to strengthen BCG’s employer brand as well as supporting local markets on targeted Recruitment Marketing & branding efforts to attract, nurture and convert qualified diverse talent to BCG. Previously, Robin was the global employer brand lead for SAP. She also has experience in marketing communications for large brands in the TV, Internet and Consumer Products space.
Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm that helps organizations solve complex business problems. The company was founded in 1963 and has grown to become one of the leading consulting firms in the world. BCG has more than 100 offices in over 50 countries and employs over 30,000 people globally.
The Importance of Research when Creating a Recruitment Marketing Campaign
As a 60-year old company, BCG has developed a well-known reputation in the global management consulting industry. But through research, Robin and her team discovered that the company was not top of mind for certain talent segments such as technology and digital talent. Yet, skills in AI, machine learning and robotics are in high-demand by BCG’s business units.
As Robin described, “This means that BCG is constantly recruiting for entirely new talent pools, recruiting against entirely new employment competitors, and working to shift candidate expectations of who we are to talent who might not think of us as a modern digital firm.”
This recruiting challenge is what led Robin to embark on creating the first global Recruitment Marketing campaign in BCG’s history. The goal was to position BCG strongly, uniquely and authentically in the talent market, and bring the best of BCG to candidates worldwide.
Developing the campaign began with research. Working with her agency Wunderman Thompson, they conducted a global blind study to learn more about their talent audience, what they wanted from an employer and their perceptions of BCG. They also looked at the last 3 years of hiring data, and considered the company’s strategic vision for where BCG planned to hire in the future.
However, after presenting the research findings, Robin and her team were challenged about some of the results. So this led Robin to do even more research, this time pulling in BCG’s data team and other agency partners.
“Thankfully, the data came back even more conclusive. But because of this we developed a model for us to scale and repeat market research projects in the future,” Robin said.
Ultimately, the research showed that BCG needed to evolve how it presented itself as an employer, building from the past while addressing the future. In addition, Robin and her team needed to focus on how they could differentiate BCG in the market, be clear on who they are as a company, what they do and how they do it. And they had to ensure their employer brand message could be delivered to all audiences in all markets globally.
This chart shows the 5 goals of BCG’s employer brand strategy. The company wants its recruits, employees and alumni to “know, feel, do, convert and advocate” for BCG as an employer.
Launching BCG’s Award-Winning Recruitment Marketing Campaign
All the research and collaboration with Robin’s internal and external partners led to the launch of BCG’s new global Recruitment Marketing campaign: Beyond is where we begin.
Robin and her team’s strategy was to showcase the impact that BCG consultants have on society through their work with clients. To do this, the company created a library of content assets including videos and blog posts that highlighted the stories of BCG consultants who had worked on projects that had a significant impact on society.
“I think this campaign truly encapsulates what’s special and true about BCG, because we go beyond the status quo. We take on challenges and try to solve them on a whole other level,” Robin said.
To bring the campaign to life, Robin and her team developed a creative framework that needed to be super flexible. From the design standpoint, the campaign’s creative visuals have a background image that always reflects the purpose of their work, and in the foreground is a smaller picture that is always focused on the person doing the work and their individual story. The visuals also include the word “Beyond” in the headline, followed by a proof point. This is shown in the graphic below.
For its global Recruitment Marketing campaign, BCG created this design template that can be localized in each market.
“At the end of the day, everybody says they’re a great place to work. But candidates want to know, why are you a great place to work? What makes you a great company to work for? That proof point is something that candidates are actively looking for, and they want to see that validation,” explained Robin.
The campaign also emphasized the company’s culture and values. BCG created content that showcased the company’s collaborative and inclusive culture, as well as its commitment to continuous learning and development. The company highlighted its diversity and inclusion initiatives, especially support for LGBTQ+ employees and gender parity.
A key aspect of launching the “Beyond is where we begin.” campaign was involving and activating BCG employees worldwide. It was important that the campaign be relevant in each local market. So Robin and her team created an employer brand portal that provided hundreds of campaign assets that local recruiters and hiring managers could use and customize. Her campaign activation plan also included a multi-week plan of training and enablement, with pre-launch and post-launch activities to ensure everyone was on the same page – no easy feat for such a large company!
Impact of the Campaign
BCG’s Recruitment Marketing campaign resonated strongly both internally and externally:
- 84% of employees strongly agreed the campaign illustrated continuous incredible accomplishments at scale.
- The campaign was selected as the top candidate choice in 5 out of 5 markets (US, UK, Germany, Japan, India)
- After launching the campaign, in Q4 2022, BCG saw a 67% increase in careers site visits, a 1,800% increase in talent community subscribers, and a 42% visit-to-apply conversion rate.
- Collectively, the campaign educated candidates more widely on what BCG does, and most importantly, demonstrated that BCG is a modern company that shares the ambitions of its employees, and that it genuinely cares about making an impact in the world.
These stellar results led BCG to be recognized in the 2023 Rally Awards, tying for Silver in the Best Recruitment Marketing Campaign, Large Team category!
Lessons Learned
Robin wrapped up her RallyFwd presentation by sharing several valuable lessons for companies looking to create and launch a global Recruitment Marketing campaign to attract top talent.
- Do your research, know your audience, and identify areas of opportunity. “Go slow to go fast” with data, to ensure your leadership buys in. Employees will hold you accountable to ensure that your Recruitment Marketing is authentic.
- Co-create, form a working team and over-communicate. Remember, it takes a village to create and launch a campaign at this scale. Co-creation results in ownership, and you’ll have confidence you have accounted for unanticipated audiences and business/regional nuances.
- Enable your employees to represent your brand at scale, and reward and recognize them for doing so. Ambassadorship equals authenticity and greater believability. Establish a governance framework and find channels that deliver at scale in a personalized way.
In conclusion, BCG’s recruitment marketing campaign exemplifies the power of a strategic and purpose-driven approach to attracting and retaining top talent. By showcasing the impact of their work, highlighting their company culture and values, leveraging multiple channels, personalizing their messaging, and emphasizing diversity and inclusion, BCG successfully has positioned itself as an employer of choice.
We all can learn valuable lessons from Robin’s campaign and apply them to their own Recruitment Marketing strategies. Thank you Robin for sharing your strategy and your award-winning campaign with us!
Rally Note: If you’d like to hear Robin’s full presentation, and the rest of our amazing conference speakers, register to watch RallyFwd On Demand.
