ADFX AWARDS 2018 Small Budget The Defence Forces - Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces Rothco
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BEST USE GOLD
OF INSIGHT
ADFX
Small Budget AWARDS
The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: 2018
Data Sniping for the Defence Forces
Rothco
Company Profile Security is the bedrock on which a society’s cultural, social and economic achievements are built. Defence underpins Ireland’s security as well as the promotion of the State’s strategic interests in the international environment. The work of the Army on land in protecting our vital installations nationally; supporting other public services in times of crisis, all contribute to a stable, functioning personnel society and economy. If one were to think of the economy as the heart of our country, the work of the Air Corps and Naval Service in protecting our sovereign sea and air, is in essence keeping the support network to it healthy. Defence Forces conduct their duties on behalf of the Irish people, but also on behalf of the International Community; this in itself is an expression of how we view ourselves in the eyes of the world, taking on duties in some of the most dangerous parts of the globe, with a broader international consensus. 500 personnel are currently deployed in 15 countries and 1 sea around the world. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 1
Introduction and Background Back in 2015, The Irish Defence Forces were in trouble; they were struggling to find and recruit the right men and women to serve our country. Within the context of recruitment, gender diversity is critical for The Defence Forces. This is to ensure that not only are those protecting and serving the nation an accurate reflection of it - but that they’re making the best possible decisions, especially against a backdrop of increased complexity and uncertainty. However, gender representation is a legacy issue for The Defence Forces, with women making up only 6% of the organisation at the time. In 2015, only 350 young women applied for positions. But dramatically of those 350, 282 didn’t show up to the first day of fitness testing. Of the small amount of applications they were getting; 75% of these were dead leads and not the right fit. This wasn’t new news. The female recruitment figure for The Defence Forces had remained static since 2010. However, change was needed, and both the organisation, and the Government were keen to demonstrate commitment to seeing this through. But not just any women would do for this particular job; The Defence Forces needed the right kind of women who would be up to the challenge and fit within the organisation. This is the story of how The Defence Forces found their fit by data sniping; locating the right audiences and targeting them with laser precision. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 2
Marketing Objectives Business Objective: Increase the number of female applicants, year on year. We needed to increase female recruitment and representation within The Defence Forces by doubling the number of applications they received by 2020. (Number of total female applicants in 2015 = 350, of which 282 failed to show up for fitness testing). Due to the complexity and varying length of time of the induction process, it is important to note here, that our objective was to increase applications. The total number of females within The Defence Forces dropped from 563 at end of 2014, to 553 at the end of April 2015 (see figure 1). Even more concerning, only 10.4% of the 3,500 applicants were female. We needed to box clever if we were going to reverse this downward trend. Marketing Objective: Increase consideration amongst young women towards a career in The Defence Forces. To achieve this, we needed to increase consideration and generate leads amongst women. However, this was no easy task. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 3
Marketing Objectives The odds of a woman enlisting in the Irish Army were long. In fact, they sat at 62,857/1. Furthermore, the overall amount of applications were low. In 2015, only 350 women applied for a position within the defence forces and of those, 262 didn’t show up to the fitness test on the first day. 75% had ruled themselves out by not turning up. In short, they were recruiting a small number of women and the majority of them weren’t viable candidates as their feet never touched military soil. We needed to increase overall consideration by positioning The Defence Forces as a viable career option for young women, and therefore increase applications, and attendance for physical testing. Communications Objective: Target the right audience with the right message at the right time. A career in The Defence Forces isn’t for everyone. Only a certain type of young woman can excel within this environment. Considering the poor level of female applications within recent years, and the poor turnout from those called back, our communication’s role needed to ensure quality of candidates and prioritise relevancy over reach. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 4
Marketing Objectives
As opposed to prior recruitment drives which relied heavily on mass reach, this
wasn’t about casting the net wide, this was about finding the right audiences and
understanding how we could make them consider the Defence Forces as the right
career for them. There were three clear jobs to be done in order to deliver on these
ambitious objectives;
1. Identify the right audience; We needed to find those who were most likely to
consider a career with the Defence Forces and those who were most influential
to them.
2. Deliver the right message; Once we had identified these young women, we
needed to understand the most compelling message that would resonate with
their mind-set.
3. Land it in the right channels; Where are we best placed to deliver this
message in a way that lands with impact to our bespoke audience?
Also, this all had to be done on a budget of under €40k.
Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 5
The Task Laser Focusing our Task: Finding the Figures. Mass targeting, previously employed by The Defence Forces, had failed to drive quality recruits. And with an audience of 1.8 million women, we knew we needed a laser focus on our target. We needed to seek out quality over quantity. Our task was clear: we needed to find our fit. In order to deliver on our objectives; we discovered we only needed to generate 577 leads that year - but we needed to make sure they were the right ones. Challenging the Challenge: Identifying the Real Problem. The first job that needed doing was research into our target audience, to understand the barriers to recruitment that had resulted in such dwindling figures of female applications and representation. Working with Ignite Research, we conducted a national online poll amongst a 100-strong sample of the target demographic. The results of this work highlighted a very different issue at hand. This was not about reappraisal at all. 71% of respondents said that had never considered a career in The Defence Forces. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 6
The Task It wasn’t that they’d ruled it out; they hadn’t discounted it for reasons of myth, conjecture, inaccuracy, or stereotype. They had simply never considered it. It was not even on their radar. For the remaining 29%, ‘fit’ was the primary reason they had discounted The Defence Forces as a viable option. They believed that they wouldn’t fit in (either physically, mentally, or culturally). Nobody had ruled out The Defence Forces for what it is – they had simply not considered it, or had just ruled it out because they didn’t think they’d fit in. So, we didn’t have a problem to fix as such, which was great news. The research laser-focused our task; this wasn’t about changing perceptions, it was about effective targeting. We needed to get on the radar of the right kind of candidates, the ones most likely to ‘fit’ physically, mentally and culturally, so that the question of ‘fit’ never became an actual question. The challenges of time, budget, and interest. However, even though the task was now clear, the challenges that faced us to achieve this were astronomical. Firstly, our production budget was €20k, and the media spend was €11k with €2k of that assigned to Facebook. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 7
The Task Secondly, we had incredibly tight timings. We had just 5 weeks to hit the magic 577 application figure. Thirdly, based on the recruitment stats from 2015, we knew that those who were already applying were not the quality leads we needed to form this number. (Ignite Research, conducted on behalf of The Defence Forces, 2016). Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 8
The Strategy Our Approach: Define and reach. We clearly needed a smarter approach. We had to be as efficient as possible with our budget, i.e. not talking to everyone. The first step was finding out who was most likely to make a qualified lead – those most likely to apply and most likely to succeed. Who was best suited for a career within The Defence Forces. To find out, we looked at the core values required of those working within The Defence Forces; Moral Courage, Physical Courage, Loyalty, Selflessness, Integrity and Respect. Then, using these as our framework for psychographic targeting, we sought to explore what audience of young women would provide us with most or all of these qualities. These values underpin everything The Defence Forces do, and should be reflected in everything these potential candidates are. Reducing our audience: From 1.8 million, to 11,700 key targets. Utilising data mining (via TGI), we narrowed the total universe of Irish women from 1.8m down to the 11,700 most eligible women for the job. Firstly, we reduced our figure to the 187,000 between the age of 18-25. Then, 113,000 who were job bound, as opposed to career bound. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 9
The Strategy Of these, 50,029 were active, and 22,800 of those were dissatisfied with life. Finally, we narrowed this figure to the 11,700 who played contact team sports. 11,700 women whose attitudes and abilities, reflected within their pastimes, matched the brief of an Irish Army recruit. These were 11,700 young Irish women who played contact team sports; many of whom are young, job bound, active sports women who only felt accomplished and valued on the pitch, field, and court. These were women who knew how to follow orders, understood team dynamics and weren’t afraid of a physical challenge (see Decision Tree - figure 2). (TGI Research conducted by Rothco on behalf of The Defence Forces, 2016) Crafting our insight: Tapping into their want to be valued on and off the pitch Now that we knew who we were talking to, we needed to determine what to say to them. Our key insight uncovered that these women wished they could be valued in life for what they are valued for on the sports field. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 10
The Strategy When it comes to their future, they’re passively resigned to believing that what they love most about being on a sports team isn’t valued in the real world – that there isn’t a job that would pay them for their core competency: teamwork, fitness, competitiveness, hard work, leadership, etc. These mind-sets exactly matched the values, personality and requirements of The Defence Forces. These women were the perfect match to work within the organisation, they just didn’t know it - yet. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 11
The Idea Our Big, Data-Driven Idea: Join our Team The creative idea was a natural build from our data-driven, strategic approach. It emphasised how these women were the perfect fit, based on their values, ADFX interests, attitudes and pastimes. We told them ‘You’ve been training all your life for this job... you just didn’t know it’. Bringing the idea to life with impact There were three elements required to bring this idea to life in a way that delivered the most impact; 1. Identifying the right message to answer a genuine need: We asked these women to Join Our Team in a way they could recognise. These young sports women love their sport for what they get out of it and for what makes them good at it: teamwork, loyalty, front-footedness, competitive, hard-work, success-oriented, fitness, etc. - but they’ve never been told they’re great off the playing field. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 12
The Idea Job-bound, they’re passively resigned to believing that the values of a sports team aren’t the same as those of the real world – that no job would pay them for their core competencies: teamwork, fitness, competitiveness, hard work, leadership, etc. To show how translatable their talents are, we made them consider applying through the familiarity of their skill sets; the rallying call to action - Join Our Team. We created a hero film, capturing the comparisons between our audience and the life of a recruit - highlighting the similarities of the job and commitment to the team. Our core message: this was a job they’d been training for all their lives (see film structure - figure 3). 2. Precision targeting to find the most fertile mind-set: Identifying these women, and those most likely to influence them. Our primary audience were job-bound team sport players wanting more out of life. Our secondary audience were Career Guidance counsellors, who’ve spotted a student who’d be a good fit, and parents of these potential recruits (who we believe were best targeted via their informed children, now properly armed with the information to have these discussions). Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 13
The Idea 3. Identifying the right channels: Finding the places we knew we could get their attention. We looked at a wide range of channels that could potentially target women aged 18-25 - TV, print, social, online - however we needed the right channels to drive effectiveness for our identified audience, especially given budgetary constraints. We also wanted channels that would deliver against key user trends such as active (daily!) usage and mobile first. Following an analysis of TGI data and a strong gut instinct, it was no surprise that digital and social media significantly surpassed traditional channels in terms of usage likelihood. (Trad: 88 vs. Digital: 127) This needed to be a campaign that lived and breathed online – the backdrop to this target’s lives. (Source; TGI Research conducted by Rothco on behalf of The Defence Forces, 2016) Tapping into the Targeting Potential: Launching our Campaign on Facebook. Facebook is the widest reaching social platform in Ireland, reaching 95% of our audience, and contains the most sophisticated targeting technology. Looking at the stats, we realised we had the potential to reach and buy an optimized audience of 39,000 women, aged 18-25, in secondary school / college with a strong affinity towards sports. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 14
The Idea However, this was about impact, not exposure. So, we created a customized audience to target our message against, using a mix of demographic, geographic, educational and affinity-based preferences - ensuring the channel brief was strictly about impact, with little tolerance for wastage. (Source; MediaVest on behalf of The Defence Forces, 2016) Crafting with the audience in mind Our video’s opening frame was the ‘the alarm clock’ shot, instantly recognisable for ‘team-players,’ ensuring it would stop their scrolling. Also, aware that over 85% of videos on mobile feeds play without sound, we crafted our copy to direct viewers to tap for sound e.g. “You’ll want sound for this”. This ensured a strong, effective connection point with our audience. Precision targeting also allowed us to be nimble in our campaign, measuring and tracking engagement, reach, etc., without having to rely on slow-turnaround results. We could then monitor and quickly optimise our messaging to ensure we were getting the right people at the right time. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 15
The Idea To use our audiences’ own influence, we also encouraged them to become advocates themselves and tag the women who they believed were the right for the job. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 16
The Results With a total spend of €22k, we were fighting extremely long odds when tasked with increasing female applicants to the Irish Army. But, by boxing clever with data and developing a data-inspired creative solution, we massively shortened those odds to set the campaign up for success. A brief reminder of our objectives: We needed to drive female recruitment by increasing consideration, applications and attendance by targeting the right audience with the right message. Armed with our data-insight-driven film, we precision-targeted the qualified leads on Facebook, via sports and club pages. We didn’t just want to entice the 11,700 to find out how they would fit in, but also to encourage them tag friends who might be a perfect fit for a career in The Defence Forces too. Increase in applications and inductions: And after just three weeks, we smashed the client’s goal of increasing female applications year on year. More importantly, we surpassed our quota-based goal of 577 qualified leads e.g. applications from candidates most likely to succeed in the Irish Army. We did all of this with a mere media spend of only €2k on Facebook. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 17
The Results Application Induction Breakdown: We have seen a tripling of female applications since the launch of the campaign a nd a 49% improvement on induction rates. This is reflective of a total of 73 females who were inducted in 2017 (9.7% of total inductions), 47 females who were inducted in 2016 (6.5% of total inductions) and 23 females who were inducted in 2015. In 2015 The Defence Forces received only 350 female applications, which represented just over 10% of the total applications that year. In 2016, of the 4,807 total applicants, 779 were female which represented 16% of the total applicants (see figure 7). Overall we saw a 223% increase in female applicants and a 60% improvement in the gender ratio of applications comparatively from launch (see figure 5) As for demonstrating the quality of those leads; we dramatically reduced the drop-off in attendance for the first day from a massive 75%, down to 33% - a reduction of 56% (see figure 6) Associated Value – Increasing Female Representation: The real value added to this campaign was ultimately about ensuring diversity within The Defence Forces. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 18
The Results As organisation more reflective of the nation it serves, they’re better equipped for decision-making in an increasingly complex global landscape. Since the campaign began, The Defence Forces have reached their highest ever percentage of female members since the first inductions in 1980. Campaign Engagement: Our campaign didn’t just engage our core audience, but created a sense of advocacy for those surrounding it. By reflecting the mind-set and fit of the audience, we inspired them to tag others who’d be a perfect fit in The Defence Forces too. Our launch post on Facebook garnered 82 comments, the majority of which were friends tagging female friends because they thought they were the perfect fit (see Figure 4). Over the course of the campaign period, Facebook went on to deliver a whopping 579,238 engagements (people taking action), a total of 6,965 clicks to site, with our launch post alone delivering 2,964 clicks to the website. (Source: MediaVest Post Campaign Analysis Report, 2016). Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 19
The Results Changing Perceptions of the Defence Forces: Naturally, due to the small budget available to The Defence Forces at the time, brand research pre-and post-campaign were neither a priority or possibility. This meant that the metrics available to us were limited, beyond applications and recruitment, in demonstrating the wider effectiveness it had in raising the the organisation’s profile amongst its target, 71% of whom hadn’t considered it before. However, the results were seen through widespread media pick-up across prominent publications; including the The Irish Times, TheJournal.ie and Joe.ie, to name but a few. It demonstrated increased awareness of the incredible career opportunities that existed for women within the organisation – a huge win for The Defence Forces. (Source: Ignite Research, on behalf of The Defence Forces 2016). Determining ROMI: While this campaign exceeded all targets in relation to the increase in applications it generated; the commercial value of this campaign can be seen with the reduction in media spend per leads (see figure 8). Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 20
The Results Looking comparatively to the Cadetship recruitment campaign run in 2015, the media spend per lead within this instance stood at €162.34 (based on total media spend of 35K). However, in 2016 that lowered to €14.12 per lead; a reduction per lead of a massive 91%. Achieving the same levels of applications based on 2015’s costs, would have required a media spend of €126,462 compared to the €11K spend in 2016. Discounting Factors: In terms of our objective of increasing applications, there were no obvious discounting factors that could be attributed to the increase in applications. There were no known changes relative to the job requirements and benefits i.e. there was no increase in remuneration, changes in benefits, or political or environmental happenings that would change the context, placement or increase the desirability of the job itself. The main consideration impacting applications in general would be unemployment rates. Unemployment rates play a role as potential candidates may use the process to either examine their options, or ensure job-seekers allowance. However, the CSO figures from 2016 represented a decrease of unemployment rates comparatively to 2015, meaning this did not impact upon our results of increased applications. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 21
The Impact Ultimately, the objective and success of this campaign lay in the behavioural and attitudinal change it inspired amongst both our target audience and those of influence surrounding them. How did our campaign make our audience think? It made them consider that this is a job suited to them. This campaign changed the brand perceptions and understanding around The Defence Forces and the role for women within it. By leveraging scenarios recognisable to our target audience comparatively to the job itself, this campaign raised the profile and understanding of what a job in The Defence Forces actually entailed, which these women had not been aware of or considered beforehand. Testimonial from Captain Ciara Ni Ruairc – Lead for Defence Forces Gender Focussed Recruitment Campaigns; “We need more women to join the Defence Forces as an operational imperative and to ensure our organisation is making the best possible decisions amongst a backdrop of increased complexity and uncertainty. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 22
The Impact This campaign ensures we are increasing our female recruitment and reaching a part of the population that we were not previously. Ultimately, this campaign and the outcomes are helping us to strengthen the nation.” How did our campaign make our audience feel? It made them feel recognised and appreciated. We knew that these women wished they could be valued in life for what they’re valued for on the sports field. Using our core creative to highlight both their mindset and their day-to-day behaviours, we were able to resonate with them by showing that The Defence Forces was an organisation that both recognised and valued their unique skill set. Testimonial from Quote from Private Kelly Sheehan – New Recruit; “I found The Defence Forces recruitment advert to be very empowering. To become it, you have to see it. The ad shows a female succeeding in the organisation and reinforces the idea that there are other women doing it and doing it well. The female advert resonated with me, it definitely struck a chord.” Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 23
The Impact How did it make our audience act? They applied for a job in The Defence Forces and told their friends to do likewise. This campaign saw a tripling of female applications since launch, garnering a 49% improvement on induction rates. However, in addition to this, we were able to create advocates for our cause - across both social and key influencers outside of it. Our launch post on Facebook garnered 82 comments, the majority of which were friends tagging female friends because they thought they were the perfect fit. In addition to this, we were also able to generate WOM among parents and guidance counsellors. Testimonial from Commandant Eoghan McDermot – Defence Forces Gender, Equality and Diversity Adviser; “The female focused recruitment ad has created an interest in The Defence Forces from young women who may not have considered a career in The Defence Forces before. It has also improved awareness amongst their key influencers such as parents and Guidance Counsellors. This had a very positive effect in overall Defence Forces recruitment efforts.” Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 24
New Learnings The power of data: The new news here is the use of data and values-based targeting - which influenced and underpinned every element of this campaign, from identifying our audience, developing the message itself, and the distribution of it. This was a seismic shift for The Defence Forces. Until now, they had recruited men and women through traditional channels – such as press advertising, career fairs, and guidance councillors, with general recruitment messaging. Nothing of this nature had been done before in terms of gender-specific or value-based recruitment on new platforms that spoke directly to young women most likely succeed in an army career. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 25
Summary The odds of a woman enlisting in the Irish Army are long. In 2015, only 350 applied and of those, 262 didn’t show up to the fitness test. How could we convince 1.8 million women of a career in the Irish Army with a budget of under €40K? We couldn’t. Instead, we became data snipers. Using data and psychographics, we hyper-targeted young women who matched the brief of an Irish Army recruit. Leveraging Facebook, using a thought-provoking, data-inspired piece of creative that spoke directly to them - we managed to boost female applications by a whopping 122%. Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 26
Media Gallery
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27Media Gallery Fig 3 Fig 4 Rothco | The Defence Forces – Finding the right fit: Data Sniping for the Defence Forces 28
Media Gallery
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