As a Branding professional I am of the belief that true brand equity is built over time through the promotion of a series of consistent messages that promote a firm’s unique offering- or value proposition. Yet over the years, I’ve been following with interest the widely successful TV and Radio spots for Geico Insurance. In case you’re not familiar with them, they are an 80-year old insurance company (the GEICO name is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company because when they were founded, they targeted a customer base of government and military employees) and today they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
Flying in the face of branding convention, their consumer advertising is anything but consistent. They’ve memorialized Cavemen, Gecko’s and Hump Day. Watch the clips from their website link and you’ll find them short, humorous and disruptive.
For those who follow my ERE articles, you’ll know that my mantra is “One Brand” which advises Talent Acquisition professionals to tie the Employer Brand to the consumer brand. So of course I was curious about Geico Careers social recruiting methodology. Are they following a more traditional path of promoting jobs and the EVP (employer value proposition: the sum total of the benefits of working for a given company or what the company want’s to be known for in the minds of a candidate) or adopting the corporate path of anarchy?
The answer – it’s a little of both. High marks for their Facebook Careers Community Manager for promoting their commercials –I really do love Alligator Arms.
After all- don’t job seekers need car insurance too? Yet their also doing a terrific job in promoting
career development:
managing candidate expectations:
addressing consumer concerns:
and
providing glimpses into their corporate social responsibility and recognition:
So, I guess they’re just lucky. They have a lot of great assets to pull from and a great story to tell. The Social Recruiting takeaway for the rest of us is to use a mixed bag of tricks to make sure that you’re staying true to your brand and your culture while still promoting the career opportunities you’re looking to fill.
Happy Hump Day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jody Ordioni is the author of “The Talent Brand.” In her role as Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brandemix, she leads the firm in creating brand-aligned talent communications that connect employees to cultures, companies, and business goals. She engages with HR professionals and corporate teams on how to build and promote talent brands, and implement best-practice talent acquisition and engagement strategies across all media and platforms. She has been named a "recruitment thought leader to follow" and her mission is to integrate marketing, human resources, internal communications, and social media to foster a seamless brand experience through the employee lifecycle.
