Background

The semiconductor industry in China faces fierce competition with a large number of players competing to recruit young talent. At the same time, graduating students tend to compete for coveted job opportunities in large MNCs due to the positive reputation and prestige they come with. Over the years, the media has perpetuated misconceptions that jobs like engineering are less glamorous, positioning such roles as ‘nerdy’ - resulting in a negative stereotype around engineering jobs. ASML recognized the need to build a stronger brand image to showcase its leadership in the technology industry and drive its reputation among talents. In order to appear top-of-mind for students when selecting a job of their choice, we were tasked to: 1. Build strong brand awareness to showcase ASML’s leadership in the technology space 2. Promote employer branding for ASML in China 3. Ultimately, to make engineering sexy!

Describe the strategy

When we talk about ‘engineers’ and ‘engineering jobs’ as a whole, many individuals form an inaccurate perception of the job and lack an accurate understanding of what an engineering job comprises. With ASML’s target recruiting audience primarily made up of Gen Zs, the team identified a common thread between both Gen Zs and Engineers: “they are on the constant lookout for the truth”. Diving deeper, we also explored the reasons as to why Gen Zs are always in search for the truth and how that translates into their behaviour: - Expressing individual truth - Connecting through different truths - Understanding different truths - Unveiling the truth behind all things As we set out to demonstrate the truth behind engineering and what it all means, we conceptualized an integrated campaign spanning across online, offline and digital platforms to explore the differences in audience perception around engineering.

Describe the execution

The full campaign was divided into 3 phases, and was carried out from June - September 2020, along with paid media across social and industry media purchased to boost the campaign. 1. Viral Video: Better Than You Think Used to officially launch the campaign, included on the campaign’s landing page and shared across widely-used social platforms in China. 2. Online mobile game competition: Engineer The Light Hosted on a mobile app to educate our target audience on ASML’s lithography technology in an entertaining and immersive way. A landing page was developed to carry brand information and serve as a hub for the campaign. To further drive engagement with users, a lucky draw was incorporated into the mobile game. 3. Amplifying across social platforms Hosted two live streaming sessions of SEMICON 2020, executed paid ads on social media (WeChat, Toutiao, Bilibili, TikTok), amplified with influencer collaborations for campaign promotion.

List the results

Keeping in mind that ASML is a B2B organization and was not proactively reaching out directly to its target audience, the team successfully achieved: - 22,815,069 total impressions among target audiences - 1,474,413 total engagement for the whole campaign - 7,308 new followers across ASML’s social media channels - 15% increase of consideration rate for ASML, from 7.96% to 9.13% - More than 5,000 collection of CVs/resumes With different tactics lined up across the time period June - September 2020, we ensured audience interest was sustained and opened more avenues for ASML to gain wider visibility from its audiences. As shown on Google search trend of “ASML” from January - November 2020, we see 3 key spikes in search volume during the campaign.