Poaching Phone
Recruitment Drive (Self-Promotion)
Issue 31 | June 2014
Agency
FP7/DXB – A part of the McCann Group
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director, Art Director, Copy Paul Banham Creative Director, Art Director Husen Baba Creative Director, Art Director, Copy Ali Mokdad Art Director Joseph Alipio Head of Design Ryan Atkinson Design Director Erol Salcinovic Junior Designer Laila Mokdad
Production Team
In-House Production Khalid Hamza
Other Credits
Video Editor Ashraf Muhammad Unnay Director Jaques Mulder Photographer Adam Browning Hill
Date
August 2013
Background
FP7/McCann wanted to expand its creative department but hiring talent in the region was time-consuming and headhunters were expensive. There had to be another way to recruit top talent.
Idea
Like all other industries, the advertising business has its fair share of self-help literature. What FP7/McCann did was to dummy up three faux books about career advancement.
"Getting Into A Top Agency Is Easier Than You Think", "Creating Campaigns For The Coolest Brands" and "It's Not What You Know But Who You Know".
A phone was concealed within die-cut pages inside each book and programmed with only one contact – the Executive Creative Director's direct phone number.
Books were mailed out to the creative stars he most wanted to hire.
Results
Within a week, the ECD had received the calls he was hoping for and a month later the creative department had four new additions: a world-class art director, a talented design director, and a Young Lions winning team.
The story was featured in design blogs, creative magazines and industry websites around the world, which led to approaches by creatives far beyond the region wanting to join the agency.
In numbers:
- Projected cost of traditional recruitment: $81,967.
- Actual cost of Poaching Phone books: $1,639.
- Cost of Phones: $0, thanks to Sony, the agency's client.
- Total savings: 97% of our projected recruitment cost.
- 400% increase in creative applications from across the world in one month.
- $100,000+ earned media in one month and rising.
- 200,000+ shares/mentions on industry sites, blogs and social media in one month.
- 3rd most shared idea on ADWEEK (1st week of March)
Our Thoughts
Before becoming the ECD of FP7/ McCann, Paul Banham was the digital creative director of JWT London. In his past he has been behind many examples of genuinely top-notch digital work.
So why isn’t he using digital media to bolster his creative department?
I guess because instead of answering a brief for once, this was one he had to write himself. In confronting the problem, how do you get top people into an agency with a less than sparkling creative reputation like McCann, he simply had to become media neutral. And the answer turned out to be direct mail.
Not only is mail a brilliant way of reaching people who are hard to reach, if it is clever and engaging, which this is, then it enhances the brand.
Suddenly, FP7/McCann’s seems to be a sparky and creative agency. The irony is, the people Paul has recruited will probably think of mail as an unappealing medium – even though it was what got them their jobs.