[Editor’s Note: HARMAN is providing the tools and resources for people to stay connected through a new series of webinars. To learn more visit: https://jobs.harman.com/stay-connected]
Taking control of your Employer Brand is challenging. Sure, Brand Guidelines, Ad Templates and other tools are extremely beneficial, but that is the technical aspect, what about the emotional? You need to galvanize your employees to embrace it. You need to get them excited. You need to build brand ambassadors. And, doing it on a global level? That goes beyond merely “challenging.”
HARMAN International, a global leader in connected technologies, pulled all this off in an amazingly impressive fashion.
Step 1: Research
HARMAN partnered with TMP and Brand Strategist Ellis Pines to determine what their brand promise truly is.
“When we began working with HARMAN, we discovered that they had always marketed as a ‘house of brands’,” begins Ellis. “The audience knew them for their high-profile consumer brands like JBL. However, Harman is an innovative component of Samsung, specializing in the connected car, the Internet of Things and other advanced mobile uses of data. Beyond their strong audio business, this interconnectivity is changing all our lives. In close collaboration with the client, we discovered the proactive personal attributes that can thrive in this accelerated environment. And we also learned that the company still honors its music heritage.”
After c-suite interviews, focus groups and online surveys (all global in nature), it became clear that HARMAN’s employment experience offered:
- Agility that empowers growth
- Diversity that spurs innovative thinking
- Global teamwork that creates world-class solutions
- Challenging you to bring out your best
Kumari Williams, Senior Director of Global Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding, led things from the HARMAN side.
“Agility was the biggest thing we were looking for,” Kumari told Talent Marketing Board (Board.org). “We wanted a partner who would be able to run with us, and TMP has been able to do that. It was also important that TMP be flexible with regard to changing input. TMP learned quickly that change is very much a part of life at HARMAN. Like HARMAN, TMP believes in an agile, iterative process that gets client input at every stage. If the messages did not resonate, HARMAN wanted the agency to know right away what elements did not ring true.”
“They told us things about our brand that we didn’t know, but they didn’t try to change who we are,” she said.
Kumari emphasized that these considerations were crucial for them in both their decision-making process for an agency, and also in the success of the project.
Step 2: Realization
Next up is turning that into an engaging, accurate and compelling advertising campaign.
“Every choice we made, from the colors and graphics to the language and quotes, was meant to connect the creative to the brand pillars, explains Senior Copywriter Kelly Cark.
“HARMAN was involved every step of the way, too. We went over the copy together, to make sure the voice of their employees came through loud and clear. The research findings and insights played a big part in how the quotes, body copy and headlines were all developed for the brand. Between working closely with the client and the research, we were able to craft something driven by the real HARMAN experience.”
With that messaging and a global photo shoot, the creative for the “Our Talent Connects The World” campaign was born.
Realize the technical:
Realize the emotional:
Step 3: Rollout
Finally, the element that can often be overlooked, or at least under-resourced… the rollout.
Without a formal activation of the brand positioning – both internally and externally – you’re gambling with the adoption amongst your employee base. And, if your employees don’t embrace it, then really what’s the point?
So, the brand gets activated externally – a new careers website, brand advertising, job advertising and social media.
But, HARMAN then goes way above and beyond to roll it out internally – across the Americas, Europe and APAC. This includes both the sizzle and the steak.
The steak:
The comms – clearly stating how this brand positioning embodies the employees and how they can participate.
The sizzle:
Rolling it out with a bang. Making it an event, even a party.
Collateral, tchotchkes, multi-screen display and more. And, making it all social, even viral.
Singapore
Chengdu
Shenzhen
Mexico
Germany
Novi, MI
Budapest
Israel
India
“From the very beginning of this process, our goal was to roll out an Employer Brand that truly captured the spirit of our employees and the HARMAN culture,” explains Darryl Ramey, Senior Manager Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding.
“To ensure this was reflected in our collateral, we conducted a global photo shoot in partnership with TMP to capture images of our real employees from the US, Germany, Hungary, India and China. I personally had the opportunity to travel to some of our offices in China and India for the photo shoot. Our employees at those locations had such enthusiasm to support this initiative, and their pride in being a member of HARMAN was evident before the first picture was ever taken.”
Even former CEO Dinesh Paliwal got in on the game:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creating-company-employees-dinesh-c-paliwal/
Research. Realization. Rollout. It takes all three to really do it right.
It should come as no surprise that HARMAN connected all the dots.
To find out what HARMAN has to offer, check out their TalentBrew Careers Site at: https://jobs.harman.com/
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