NAPOLEON DYNAMITE PUTS HIS SWEET SKILLS TO WORK

TitleNAPOLEON DYNAMITE PUTS HIS SWEET SKILLS TO WORK
BrandSEEK
Product / ServiceSEEK CAREER ADVICE
CategoryB04. Content Creation & Production
EntrantADHESIVE Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation ADHESIVE Sydney, AUSTRALIA
PR ADHESIVE Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production AIRBAG Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Post Production AIRBAG Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Additional Company SEEK Cremorne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Alexander Masson Adhesive Creative Director, Copywriter
Craig Melville Airbag Director
David Curry Airbag Producer
Michael Maurice Adhesive Managing Director
Christopher Leben Adhesive Producer
Eric Edwards Airbag Director of Photography
David Sicotte Airbag Art Director
Jonah Oskow Airbag Editor
Casey Wescott Airbag Composer
Stephen McDaniel Airbag Producer (Portland)
Jayne Ellis Adhesive Senior Account Director
Barton Zaia Adhesive Account Director

Why is this work relevant for PR?

This work is relevant for PR as it utilised celebrity, cultural relevance and human insight to deliver reach and impact beyond what paid media could achieve alone. Celebrity allowed us to reach a mass audience across age, employment and geographic demographics. It also provided a live case study into the benefits of our product. Cultural relevance, through the use of Napoleon Dynamite IP, ensured we were attention grabbing and could stand out against our competitors. And our insights allowed us to craft angles that were relevant to a range of media verticals, ensuring a wide reaching audience and messaging cuthrough.

Background

Australia was facing the highest unemployment rate in the last decade. With lessened job security and more candidate competition in market, 60% of Australians felt that showcasing work-related skills has big implications for securing a job. However, half of Australians felt they didn’t have the relevant tools to understand how to use their skills to find a new role. With nearly 1 in 2 lacking confidence in talking to their skills, Australians had a severe case of imposter syndrome. They were more skilled than they knew, they just needed help seeing it. Our brief - Build awareness and comprehension that SEEK Career Advice can help you understand your skills and ultimately expand your career options through the use of integrated PR.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

How do you convince Aussies that SEEK helps them understand their skills and ultimately how they can expand their careers? By bringing Napoleon Dynamite out of retirement to host a series of infomercials spruiking SEEK Career Advice. Pre-testing via quant and qual + media audits confirmed Napoleon’s enduring popularity with the target audience, whilst the character’s limited appearances over the past 17 years guaranteed there would be interest in the performance. To amplify our infomercials, we ran a PR competition that saw Jon Heder challenge Australians to put their own skills to work for the chance to win a year’s salary ($89,003). The campaign leveraged the infomercials, exclusive SEEK data and commentary, & access to Jon to deliver SEEK’s most successful PR campaign ever.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

Audience: All working age Australians. From first jobs to highly skilled workers. Insight: ‘You’re more skilled than you know’. Over their lives Australians accumulate a range of skills but may not realise it or how to use them. Just like Napoleon. Strategy: Our strategy was based on Napoleon’s enduring cultural appeal. The first new footage in 17 years ensured mainstream interest in the campaign. We doubled down on nostalgia by referencing key film scenes. For instance, creating a new dance routine worked as a key callback, and an opportunity for Jon to discuss new developments with media. The infomercials were underpinned by a digital competition that challenged Aussies to put their own skills to work for the chance to win a year’s salary ($89,003). This incentivised product usage, gave media a reason to direct people onsite and allowed Jon to speak to our brand research and proof points.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

All elements of the campaign fell out of the core idea - the infomercial. Key stills were captured on set for use in media materials and supporting digital campaign. 240+ digital assets created. We created 18 infomercial edits for use in PR + social (owned + paid). Key scenes and film references were used throughout based on fan recall and popularity - creating a new dance routine worked as a key callback, and as an opportunity for Jon to discuss something new. Ten key interviews with broadcast and major mastheads were held under embargo, and published at the same time as the videos went live across SEEK social channels to guarantee high viewership at launch. Following the release of the infomercials, a media relations campaign was held supported by the content, exclusive SEEK data and commentary, & access to Jon to deliver SEEK’s most successful PR campaign ever.

List the results (30% of vote)

The most successful PR campaign in SEEK’s history. Tier 1 - 662 articles - 86+ million reach - 100% positive sentiment - 72% coverage included minimum of 2x key messages - 20% included backlink to SEEK Career Advice - 8.8 million completed video views of infomercial Tier 2 The campaign significantly outperformed SEEK benchmarks and KPIs. - 79% believe “SEEK helps me understand how my skills can increase my career opportunities” (+33% compared to baseline) - 76% believe “SEEK helps me stand out to employers based on my skillset” (+35% compared to baseline) - 79% “actively recommend this brand” (+43% compared to baseline) - 57% feel “more positive towards SEEK” as a result of this campaign Tier 3 - 216,000+ additional visits to SEEK Career Advice attributed to the PR campaign. - +4.55% organic search for SEEK Career Advice

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