There's a fundamental marketing rule that takes discipline (and time!) to get used to, but it's undeniably true:
You can't be everything to everyone.
This is at the core of what happened with our domestic hiring campaign for this season. We started by evaluating the situation – one that many, need I do not say, most seasonal businesses have found themselves in the last couple of years: How to recruit seasonal workers in an already tough job market. Unemployment is at an all-time low. To combat that employers are increasing wages to all-time highs, offering perks, signing bonuses, and other incentives just to get a few applicants. Despite all these efforts, businesses still struggle to find adequate quality staff.
Fast-forward to the winter of 2021. We knew we needed something that would grab attention, yet we also wanted to focus on the career-building aspects that summer jobs offer. The soft skills and exposure they provide as a foundation to the team members for the rest of their careers, whether they stay employed with us or choose to advance their trade elsewhere.
This led to some funky concepts and two competing forces: 1. Human Resources’ need to showcase the value of a summer job, and 2. Marketing’s desire to be disruptive and grab attention. We quickly found ourselves swinging from one extreme to the other. From incredibly disruptive to informative but typical concepts. We needed a Kentucky Derby-winning horse, and we were winding up with a camel. We feared we’d have to settle on something that no one would be happy with, not Marketing and certainly not HR.
But like true marketing geniuses, we told our creative partners, “it was OK,” and we’d have to live with it. They stepped up and crafted a concept that showcased successful individuals who started their careers with a summer job: Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, etc. – but with a twist..
We realized that the audience that makes up most of our 1500 seasonal workforce has little idea who these people are. They may have heard Warren Buffet’s name mentioned by their parents, maybe even grandparents, but they didn’t know or care who they were. We knew we had an interesting creative concept but needed the right mix of successful individuals to grab the attention of our audience.
Success can be measured in many ways. Often we focus on the financial reward, but there are other measures such as fame, philanthropy, and political or cultural influence, to name a few.
Warren Buffet helped us realize we were all getting older and possibly becoming a little out of touch with the youngins’. One of the partners at our creative agency, @1trickpony, turned to the data and enlisted the help of his teenage daughter and her friends. Through a down-and-dirty survey (over text, mind you), we had the start of our list. Financial success took a backseat to cultural influencers, athletes, artists, and philanthropists. Not to worry, though; a Kardashian* did make the list.
Simone Biles Will Smith
*Kylie Jenner
Elon Musk
Tyler the Creator
Zendaya
Steve Jobs
Now came the marketing team’s desire to get attention and tie these people back to Moreys and summer jobs. The tension always leads to the hook. Throw in a bit of attitude and a lot of tiny text, and we were cooking with gas. Then, things got interesting….
Will Smith is a well-known Philly native, so of course, being a wholesome celebrity (at the time), we had to include him in the campaign. Then came the infamous slap at the Academy Awards – the Sunday after our first billboard featuring Will Smith went up. Queue the disgust and hate mail.
People thought that we had put these up after the fact. Maybe it wasn’t perfect timing, or maybe it was? We quickly called the outdoor company and had them scheduled to be switched out – until we changed our minds.
For all the hate we were getting, people also saw the humor in it and thought we had our finger on the pulse. It got attention, started a conversation, and summer jobs @Moreys were being discussed at the center of it.
The campaign was such a success that people believed that Steve Jobs, Simone Biles, and Kylie Jenner had worked at Morey’s Piers, and they demanded to see photographic evidence. But like many things, you should always read the fine print.
Those who got it got it – and became fans of Morey’s for taking a unique approach to what could’ve been a dull old “Now Hiring” campaign. If we could be this much fun with a boring old billboard, imagine how much fun we were to work with (or at least that’s what we heard them say).
Those who didn’t– well, didn’t. They also didn’t want to let us know who they were, but they still took notice of our billboards and took part in the conversation. Some even took pen to paper– my favorite being this beautifully written anonymous letter that was mailed to the piers:
Bottom line: sometimes conflicting goals for a campaign can lead to exciting outcomes if everyone keeps an open mind and listens to one another. If you have the right team of individuals working on it, you might create something that connects with people– even our anonymous writer. We can’t make it for everyone, right?
P.S. I wasn't replaced, the campaign WON an IAAPA Brass Ring for Best Outdoor Advertising, and we were fully staffed the earliest we have ever been in the season. Even that year, Will Smith worked for us ;)
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