Research shows that 73% of employees in Serbia are unhappy with their job; the research also shows that changing jobs is one of life’s most stressful moments. Infostud, one of the leading job search platforms decided to change that.
The task was to encourage people to start searching for a better suited job by using examples of people who are in the public eye and whose success was due to their willingness to change. Neda Ukraden (singer and solicitor), Marko Selic Marcelo (writer and former tattoo artist) and Dejan Pantelic (TV host and former baker).
The basis for the campaign were a series of hilarious videos of the protagonists in hypothetical situations: what would have become of them had they not changed their job. On top of that, billboards were strategically placed around the city (for instance Neda Ukraden’s billboard, former solicitor, was placed by the Law School) in order to start a conversation about career change.
In the first week on YouTube, the campaign attracted a lot of attention organically and sparked an avalanche of comments on social networks.
Milena Đorić Gudurić, Account Director, McCann Beograd, talked about the campaign Find a New Job for Media Marketing within our BalCannes series of interviews.
We came up with the idea… at one of the brainstorming sessions where the conversation went in the direction – what would we be today had we not chosen to change our career paths at some point in our lives. The number of those who wouldn’t be doing what they do today, or would do something that would make them only partially satisfied, just because they studied a certain subject or it was their first job, was astonishing. Of course, at this meeting it was clear that humor would be an important part of these ads.
Our guiding thought was... the courage to look for better for yourself, even when your environment says, “Sit down and be happy to even have a job.”
During the realization, the biggest problem we encountered was… persuading celebrities whose stories about their first job were inspiring and entertaining for us to participate. Many of them don’t want people to know what they used to do. Which is actually a shame, because famous people have the influence that in some situations, such as this one, can trigger and encourage people to change something in their life, or at least wonder how it would be. We wanted their authentic stories, but this is for many the past that is not romantic enough and not stylized enough to share it with others.
The biggest contribution of this campaign was… that our client, Infostud jobs, had great results with this campaign, meaning a large number of new job applications on their site, from experienced and highly educated personnel who dared to find a better, or simply a new, job.
And it is special because… working on this, we took the celebrities who participated – Neda Ukraden, Marcelo and Dejan Pantelic – back to the times when they made a breakthrough and became what they are today. It was truly a special process and we are very grateful for their courage to be part of this.
When it comes to our project, we are most proud of… the fact that it triggered a debate about this topic. Most liked the approached, but some of course considered it disappointing that we live in a country where people often can’t have a good life doing what they studied for, and where you are forced to do everything and anything, and often you never get the opportunity to do a job you like. As in many other things, we are quite naive in this field as well. The struggle for a good job and a career is not easy, it requires courage and knowing what you want, and rare are those who are lucky enough to know that they love what they are studying, who will do the job they studied for, and make a good living out of it. Do you ever think that you could suddenly get an opportunity to do something without which you will never be able to imagine your life without ever again, although it never even crossed your mind before that you could do that job? That sounds very exciting!
If we were to go from scratch now… who knows what would turn out of this! I don’t like to say ‘we would do everything the same again’. It would be lame if that was so. I believe we would do something completely different, and that we will have the opportunity to show it again, with a brave client like Infostud.
Throughout the process, we have learned… a lot about the HR industry and the motives of people applying for a job, whether it is their first job or they want to change the existing one.
What you certainly did not know was that… this campaign could have included: Lepa Brena in the role of a nanny for the little girl Ana Štajdohar, Bajaga selling belts in front of the Sava Center, the footballer Šekularac as a meteorologist, or Ivan Ivanović as a driver.
From BalCannes we brought with us… we didn’t bring a lion, but we were in the Top 25. What we did take from there is a lot of great impressions, new experiences, ideas and inspiration.
Check out McCann’s Sarajevo projects and find more about it at: www.balcannes.com/agency/mccann-beograd/
Source: Media Marketing
