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Leo Burnett and Fifth Third Bank use Job Seekers to help other Job Seekers in new campaign

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Leo Burnett is using real job seekers in a new campaign for Fifth Third Bank. The campaign aims to help people find work via the bank's reemployment program, a concept which evolved from their partnership with the national reemployment solutions company, NextJob. The partnership began in 2012, when the bank singled out mortgage customers who had fallen behind in their payments due to losing work, and helped them find new work through the extensive NextJob search program. The companies then worked together to offer the full program to all mortgage borrowers in 2013, as well as access to the Job Seeker's Toolkit for all of the bank's unemployed online customers. Now, they want to take it even further and explore how to best use marketing to demonstrate that it's helping people find work, by (according to Leo Burnett creative director, Mike Ward) “Dedicating advertising and social media space to the candidates actually looking for jobs."

The campaign aims to help people find work via the bank's reemployment program, a concept which evolved from their partnership with the national reemployment solutions company, NextJob

Leo Burnett will be using actual job seekers, Katrina Holmes, Elba Pena and Bill Laakkonen in the campaign, as well as 'success story,' Randall Jackson. Chicago resident Jackson landed a job through the initiative after being long-term unemployed, so is an ideal spokesman for the campaign. Ward says that these 4 individuals are just the beginning, though, and that the 'Participation Platform' also features dozens of additional job seekers – both current Fifth Third customers participating in the NextJob program and those who are not customers of the bank. Ward stresses that "Unemployment continues to be the No. 1 concern on American’s minds,” and that "Statistically, the longer one remains out of work, the harder the time they have returning to meaningful employment.” Simply put, people need help getting back to work more than ever, and this campaign strives to help people do just that.

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The campaign will be using a combination video, pre-roll, flash and rich media banners across numerous high profile sites and social networks. The strategy was created by the Spark agency, a sibling company to Leo Burnett, who specialise in social media and seeded video. Content will also be aired in movie theatres across America, using video taken from the Reemploy.53.com website to introduce people to the job seekers and to give more information about their campaign and efforts to get people back to work. Chris von Ende, Leo Burnett's creative director and art director, admits that “The same reasons that make this campaign special are the same reasons why this effort had its challenges;” they are using real people. He says that whilst these are people that are “Earnest in their desire to return to work, and are putting themselves out there,” they are also “Talking honestly about an inherently sensitive subject." He believes that in order for the campaign to be successful, the companies needed to work together to make sure that “Every decision made within this campaign,” was a decision that was “In the candidate’s best interest.” Ende is adamant that “Nothing was allowed to trump that,” So says that occasionally, their thinking and their approach had to shift so that they did right by their candidates.

Chris von Ende, Leo Burnett's creative director and art director, admits that “The same reasons that make this campaign special are the same reasons why this effort had its challenges.”

Another way in which the campaign will help the long-term unemployed find work, is via the 53 one-on-one coaching scholarships they will be offering for people who apply through NextJob. These scholarships include 4 months of specialised job search assistance, and are available to anyone, even if they are not Fifth Third Bank customers! The scheme truly is a monumentally bold and benevolent idea, which should really help cement Fifth Third Bank's reputation as a bank that truly cares about its customers.

Online Hub for the Initiative

Official Leo Burnett Website

Benjamin Hiorns is a writer from the UK who has thankfully never been unemployed. Yet.

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