Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

Indeed created a job that became the number one search word for jobs in 2019. It was a dream job allowing people to experience the world of One Piece, the top manga in the world. One job advertisement was expanded into different media executions such as a high-quality real-life commercial. It showed that a search engine was able to create a dream-like experience. It also conveyed the brand ideal of “Bringing happiness to job searching.”

Background

Indeed was having a hard time reaching the number one spot in japan. People only visit job searching sites when they look for new jobs, so it`s inevitable that getting new trial members is difficult. Japan in particular has a negative perception regarding changing jobs, and the practice isn’t common. In order to get more people to try out Indeed’s easy-to-use interface and service, which are the company’s strengths, Indeed needed both those who are looking for new jobs and those who aren’t to try the service as well.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Just one job advertisement was enough to beat competitors. The advertisement was a dream job, a complete recreation of the world of One Piece, the number one manga that sold over four hundred million copies around the world. It was the first adoption of this mega-content. Projects were created based on surveys of fans; an extra based on a newspaper in the original comic book, high-quality real-life commercials, and events recreating the comic book world using innovative technology. The objective was to boost the excitement of fans, apply for the dream job together and make everyone’s dream come true.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We focused on the potential targets that tend to overlook job search services: people who do not intend to change jobs immediately. There is a preconception that job search services are only necessary when looking for a new job. With this preconception, each agency only targeted people who had strong intent to switch jobs. Indeed used manga contents that at first glance seem unrelated to changing jobs, and created a strong link between its services and the manga’s story to create a new experience. By doing this, they included potential targets and turned the ranking around by letting those people know the quality of their service.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

The campaign started on January 1, 2019. The job advertisement was announced. The world’s first real-life commercial of One Piece was released even before Hollywood could attempt it. Forty thousand copies of the extra, a recreation of the newspaper in the original comic book, were distributed via guerrilla marketing at 20 places nationwide. Many elements were hidden that were difficult for even the most serious fans to spot, which led to the continued buzz on social media. The jobs, which had actual applications, were publically released and implemented as events to gain even more press. By using scenes from this to create a commercial, awareness of the campaign increased. Images of users applying for the job were also spread as commercials.

List the results (30% of vote)

・Became number one in recognition among competing services. ・User intent rose to 1.5 times that of competitors. ・User intent of company rose to 167％ ・More than 380 thousand people applied for one job offer. ・Appeared in 2080 news articles in three months. ・Media exposure value equals 820 million yen.