Power a revolution
#talentattraction #employerbrand #website #video #social #digitalprint #advertising #internalcommsOften referred to as ‘the upstarts’ of the energy industry, SmartestEnergy are shaking it up, challenging its complexity and the status quo, with innovative and disruptive ideas. They’re also involved in more than 700 renewables projects, helping 100s of independent generators of every size get the best value for their power and building a cleaner, more resilient energy system in the process. In order to grow brand awareness, engage with and attract the very best talent (from in and outside the industry), they needed to tell their very unique story in a compelling and memorable way. That’s why they came to ‘the upstarts’ of the employer brand industry.
Your employer brand should work hand-in-hand with your corporate brand, because ultimately they are one and the same. A candidate, employee or client’s impression of one, will add weight to the other (and vice-versa). Smartest agreed, which meant we not only had the backing and support of the CEO and brand team, but we were also able to develop a suite of comms that the whole business could utilise (and not just for recruitment). But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Like any good EVP initiative, this project kicked off with a shed load of research. Focus groups, video calls and surveys, involving everyone from the fresh-faced interns to the CEO (one of the initiative’s biggest supporters). Over 70% of the business helped us define the EVP pillars (Think Smarter, Challenge Complexity, Customer First) and write their inspiring, no nonsense employer promise: Power a revolution.
We then had the enviable task of translating those pillars and promise into their employer brand, and what an amazing journey we had – figuratively and literally. Working closely with their brand and marketing team, we identified three independent energy producers and asked them to help us tell the SmartestEnergy story. And how, together, they are powering a revolution.
Our journey took us up and down the country, to meet the innovators and the Smartest teams who were helping them live our promise. It was a truly inspirational story to tell, and enabled us to fill their new careers website with a wealth of engaging video content. In fact, as you’ll see from the site, we made a conscious decision to focus their budget on video and storytelling, enabling them to push rich, engaging and compelling content out across their company social channels and beyond.
Launched during some pretty turbulent times, the employer brand has helped position SmartestEnergy as an employer of choice, as well as raise brand awareness amongst top talent across the energy industry and beyond. The videos have been used by their marketing team to promote Smartest to new clients and, through a combined effort, this has seen LinkedIn followers rise by over 3,000 – not bad for a business of under 500 people. On top of that, application numbers are up and agency spend is down. No wonder then that the brand has already picked up five award nominations in less than a year.
