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Would Your Recruitment Ads Win a Super Bowl Contest?

By Kathy Barton, August 2, 2007

Ok, I admit it. Unless my team is playing, I only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. And for advertising agencies, the Super Bowl is every bit as critical a contest as it is for the football teams. It defines bragging rights, generates huge publicity, and can mean millions of dollars in future business. If you search the web for Super Bowl advertising, you get over 2.6 million hits--there is actually a site called superbowl-ads.com. There are hundreds of sites that ask you to vote for your favorite (and least favorite) ads. It's become part of our culture. Job Boards such as CareerBuilder (with their chimpanzee campaign) have used the Super Bowl to generate enormous awareness of their offerings.

Read more articles by this author.

Related Topics:

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What makes a good Super Bowl ad? Something creative, funny, attention-getting, original, compelling, and most of all, something that communicates a clear and positive value proposition. No matter how memorable the ad, it wasn't a good one if you can't remember the company or product it was advertising.

These same principals can be applied to recruitment advertising. To attract top talent, you need to differentiate yourself from the pack. Yes, it's easier said than done, but it really just takes a little time and creativity. First, go to the major job boards and do a search for the position you're sourcing. Take a look at your competitors' ads. Now you know what not to do. You want your ad to stand out, not be one more boring job description in a sea of boring job descriptions.

Second, define your audience. There's a reason that most Super Bowl ads are for snack foods, beer, cars, and jobs boards. These are all consumer products that have millions of potential buyers. Not only does the Super Bowl have millions of viewers, it's one of the few shows where the ads will actually be seen. This combination is why companies are willing to spend a couple of million dollars for a 30-second ad. There is no better place to find a large concentration of their potential buyers.

Who are the "potential buyers" for your job, and where can you find them? Is it someone looking for the next step in their career? Someone who wants to break into your industry or area? If you've spent the time to define a detailed performance profile, then you know exactly what this person needs to do to be successful in the job. Do a little brainstorming. Where are you likely to find these people? Working for your competition? Thinking about returning to the workforce after the kids are in school? Looking for their first job? Working for a company that is being acquired, downsizing, just lost its CEO, is under investigation, or lost a big lawsuit? Not ready to retire, but ready for something new?

Once you define the potential buyer for your job, you can start to structure a recruitment ad that speaks directly to that person. What is most important to that target audience? For college graduates, it may be training and certifications. Or it could be travel, which appears really glamorous until you do it for a while. For baby boomers, it could be a mentoring role, or project-based work that gives lots of schedule flexibility. For returning mothers, it may be no travel, or on-site childcare, or flex-time. If the last three people who held this job were promoted, say that in the ad! That will definitely appeal to someone who wants to be on the fast track.

Make sure your ad title is eye-catching. Forget "Senior Software Engineer." That's your competitors boring title, remember? Try something like "Software Gurus Wanted!" Or "Design the Next Killer App!" Test it to make sure that your target audience will respond to it. Ask the last couple of software engineers you hired what would appeal to them, or try a few ideas on them. They will give you great feedback on what would appeal to potential candidates.

While you're at it, ask them where they looked for jobs. Making sure that your jobs can be found on Google and Yahoo is critical, but so is knowing the niche sites where your audience looks for jobs. Maybe it's a university alumni site, or the SIG (Special Interest Group) of an association. Perhaps it's a vendor-sponsored job board. Find out what the cool new sites are for hot-shot programmers (gaming sites? avatar sites? fantasy football sites?) and advertise on them.

Clearly define your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Why do people come to work at your company? Why do they stay? Is it leading edge technology? Fast growth? Industry reputation? Work/life balance? How does it differentiate you from your primary competitors? Whatever your EVP is, make sure it's clearly stated in your ad. Have a friend read the ad and then ask them what your EVP is. If they can't tell you based on reading the ad, try again.

Finally, make sure that the ad reflects what the person will really do in the job, and isn't just a list of skills, experience, and competencies. Your performance profile is the basis of this, but only the basis. Your ad should be oriented towards the benefits for the job-seeker. If they successfully achieve all the objectives required for the job, what does it do for them? Super Bowl ads try to focus on the benefit to the consumer. Stop working with monkeys! Be part of the cool crowd by drinking the cool beer! (I didn't say the benefit was believable, just attractive.) Your benefit, however, has to be both believable and attractive. Work for the industry leader and become certified in X. Help us continue triple-digit growth while gaining experience in this leading edge technology. Design the next version of the number one product in our space! Your ad may not get discussed on the Today show the morning after the Super Bowl, but if it helps you attract top talent, you are still a winner.