We are delighted BILLA has chosen Generations branding agency to handle its employer branding and recruitment campaign. Employer branding is one of the key know-how of our agency. Instead of a campaign, we brought our client flexible solutions and tools that can be used in the long term and respond to changes in the company. The flexibility of the solutions was unexpectedly quickly verified, as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived at the time of the project’s launch. A case study of employer branding for BILLA is presented by Erik Reingraber, creative director of Generations agency. Thank you to Strategie magazine for the interview and for publishing the case study in the December issue of Strategie 2020.
A case study of employer branding for BILLA is presented by Erik Reingraber, creative director of Generations agency. Thank you to Strategie magazine for the interview and for publishing the case study in the December issue of Strategie 2020.
What did BILLA need?
Erik Reingraber: Building employee pride in the BILLA brand and in parallel making BILLA the employer of choice for recruitment, built on four employee pillars.
We will appreciate your skill and you will appreciate it:
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- Dobrý kolektív
- Ústretového vedúceho
- Prácu za rohom
- Možnosť vyniknúť
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How did you think about the assignment?
Erik Reingraber: At BILLA, people have always come first, so we logically started with the employees who make up the brand. And from the beginning we decided to use storytelling. To use the stories and examples of employees, to put them at the centre of communication, in the role of agents of change. And later on, to make them ambassadors of the brand itself. It was clear to us that the authenticity of the claims would be key, which is why we wanted to use the faces of the employees and their personal testimonies in the campaign.
What was the main goal of the campaign?
Erik Reingraber: To improve the perception and increase the attractiveness of the BILLA brand on the labour market, to ensure the recruitment of new employees for the client, with an emphasis on the communication of BILLA’s employee pillars and the working environment. At the same time, strengthen the positive perception of BILLA as an employer among current employees and foster their loyalty.
Have you also set side goals?
Erik Reingraber: The goal was also to make the job at this chain more attractive, to put him in a position where he belongs in terms of size in a competitive environment. And to strengthen the positive perception of the company as an employer from the point of view of its own employees. To make them ambassadors of this positive change.
How did you think about the creative for a brand like BILLA?
Erik Reingraber: We built creativity on mutual appreciation: what BILLA can or wants to appreciate in its employees and potential employees, and what the employees themselves appreciate about working at BILLA. We were led to this approach by research and many workshops with employees, the company’s management, the HR department, the marketing and PR department and other tools we use at our agency.
Ústredným médiom kampane je microsite sikovni.sk – stránka pre zamestnancov a budúcich zamestnancov BILLA. Na nej prezentujeme príbehy konkrétnych zamestnancov, predstavujeme benefity a piliere, o ktoré sa opiera zamestnanecká kultúra v BILLA, ukazujeme zamestnanecké prostredie v centrále, skladoch a predajniach BILLA.
Erik Reingraber
What did the campaign itself look like?
Erik Reingraber: The central medium of the campaign is the microsite sikovni.sk – a website for employees and future employees of BILLA. On it, we present the stories of specific employees, introduce the benefits and pillars that underpin the employee culture at BILLA, and show the employee environment at BILLA headquarters, warehouses and stores. There is also a simple engine to quickly search for current vacancies.
The role of the other media was primarily to provide traffic on this page and to introduce the aforementioned BILLA employee pillars. To strengthen the authenticity of the campaign, we used photographs, testimonies and stories of real and actual employees.
What channels did you use and how did the creative differ in each medium?
Erik Reingraber: The phasing of the campaign was based on the objectives and the strategy. The first phase was aimed at current BILLA employees and the next phase was aimed at the general public, or potential candidates for employment at BILLA. For the internal communication campaign we used mailing, posters, internal radio in the stores, intranet, internal magazine, SMS and media in the employee facilities at the individual workplaces. The media had both an informative and an activation role. We also used an internal competition to reinforce the central idea of appreciation. In the external communication campaign, we used outdoor near the stores, posters in the stores, HR advertisement.
Part of the communication was covered by the client in-house or in cooperation with other agencies, such as radio, PR and digital communication. The SiBILLA app was unconventional, using a simple engine to predict your professional future at BILLA according to your chosen parameters. Anyone can try out which position they are best suited for.
Šikovní sa počas pandémie zmenili na statočných.
Erik Reingraber
Did you have to change the course of the campaign in the process?
Erik Reingraber: This was probably the biggest challenge we faced during the process. Immediately before the campaign was launched, the pandemic gained momentum and soon there was a lockdown. We had to respond quickly with a complete change to the campaign or its key message. At the same time, there was an opportunity to harness the potential of the situation and turn it to our advantage. The smart ones became the brave ones in a matter of days.
Oceňovali sme statočnosť našich zamestnancov, posilňovali sme pilier dobrý kolektív, ktorý sa prejavoval v osobnej zainteresovanosti zamestnancov na riešení situácie, ich nasadením, zodpovednosťou a obetavosťou.
Erik ReingraberWe continued to use their specific accounts, how their original stories before the pandemic were retold or took on even greater and stronger meaning under the influence of the current situation. We created a kind of hub for the rapid and up-to-date flow of information between the company, employees and the public, as changes, regulations and new measures were often changing from hour to hour, through the Microsite, which was quickly renamed from sikovni.sk to statocni.sk. The campaign or communication is still alive and kicking and taking on more and more solutions. We are also currently working on transferring the new Employer Branding to the premises of existing and newly opened BILLA training centres.
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