Turning employees into ambassadors

Business

Despite its clear focus on performance and quality, Grant Thornton still puts people and their self-efficacy at the centre of its holistic brand strategy. With a recruitment campaign, Stan Hema has conveyed that attitude to the outside world, generated reach and offered authentic insights into one of the most successful auditing companies in Germany. The result is a brand that people are happy to work for and happy to give work to.

The first phase of the campaign briefly introduces the company’s values and then changes perspective: Grant Thornton makes its own application to potential applicants and asks the question: ‘Are we right for you?’ In the second phase, we let real employees have their say in video testimonials. On camera, they talk about the impact their work has internally and externally. The perspectives could hardly be more different: from a senior manager who advocates for diversity to a single mother who runs a department and a sustainability expert who has made a conscious decision not to work for an NGO.

Not a single statement in the videos is scripted. The five protagonists act as authentic brand ambassadors for Grant Thornton. They show what employer branding means in the best-case scenario: shaping the employer brand from the inside out. The employer value proposition (EVP) is made directly visible and tangible.

This strategy soon paid off. Grant Thornton Germany recorded an above-average increase in motivated applications in the first week of the campaign. At the end of the campaign, the results were clear: the employee net promoter score (ENPD) had trebled, supported brand awareness had increased by 45%, considerations had doubled, and advertising recall had trebled.