Successful brands – cult brands – are built from the inside out. They realize that their internal audience is equally, if not more important, than their external audiences. Find out how brands like Zappos magnetically attract and engage employees through HR marketing and employer branding in our latest Viewpoint Series installment.

1. VIEWPOINT SERIES
November 2013
How Top Brands Attract & Keep Top Talent
Let’s face it: Great brands aren’t built by logos or advertising or
websites. Great brands are the manifestation of a great culture.
A culture that is just as compelling to customers as it is to those
responsible for delivering the customer experience itself.
And that requires a constant influx of motivated, culturally
aligned individuals who really “get” the brand. A fact that is terrifying to brands that aspire to be great, and worrisome for big
brands that are already.
In 2012, an Economist Intelligence Unit survey of more than
350 executives from multinational companies reported 66 percent of senior executives feared that lack of skills and talent
shortages were going to have a major impact on their brand.
Increasingly, brand leaders are understanding that nothing is
more critical to their success than talent. In fact, the right people
can bring brands to life in remarkable ways and provide tremendous competitive advantage to the organizations fortunate
enough to find and keep them. However, as brands increasingly rely on their culture as a differentiator, attracting – and
retaining – remarkable talent is becoming more complex.
Human Resources Meets Marketing
In recent years, the growing practice of HR marketing and “employer branding” has blurred the lines between those responsible for attracting customers, and those responsible for attracting employees. According to LinkedIn, 51 percent of companies who invest in employer branding increased their spend,
while 40 percent maintained investment levels.1
Despite this tightening up between marketing and human resources, less than 20% of organizations have an employer
branding strategy, so the opportunity for greater interdisciplinary collaboration is huge.2
Aaron Hurst, author of The Purpose Economy, explains, “Marketing and HR are traditionally the two core functions in a company concerned with people. They both focus on how to attract
and engage people in the mission of the company. For a long
time they have been able to operate in a largely disconnected
fashion but that is decreasingly possible or desirable.” Why?
Because, just like a brand’s customers, job seekers are thinking
about and approaching their employment searches differently.
Of the top most effective recruiting channels, LinkedIn lists
word-of-mouth (56%), social professional networks (46%) and
social media (38%) just behind the corporate website at 78%.
In fact, Pfizer hires 40% of all candidates from LinkedIn, and
Accenture recruits 40% of their 50,000 hires from LinkedIn and
Twitter.
The punchline: If your brand is still relying solely on job fairs,
traditional job postings and headhunters, you’re likely missing
out on the top talent.
Know Thy Candidate
One of the techniques HR has adopted from marketing is that
of candidate profiling. Just as marketers develop detailed profiles of target customers, savvy recruiters are now doing the
same for job candidates.
Attracting candidates – just like attracting customers – begins
with understanding their needs, values and behaviours. Many
are finding that, beyond the expected criteria (location, title,
compensation, and responsibilities), today’s job seekers are
increasingly attracted by brands that demonstrate transparency,
accessibility and commitment to a higher purpose. Candidates
demand to know what it’s like to work for the company and the
different environments they offer. Not just the pay grade and
how many vacation days they get.
Online retailer, Zappos, does exactly this through an employeemaintained careers website and “Family Culture Blog” dedicated to celebrating the brand’s unique culture. Facebook
serves as the primary channel for job postings, and features a
series of candid video interviews with a range of real Zappos
staffers. Before searching available positions, job seekers are
prompted to read Zappos’ core values – values which form the
basis for the Zappos Insights website where the brand shares
the secret sauce its used to create the employee-centric culture
The right people can bring a brand to life in remarkable ways, but as brands increasingly rely
on their culture as a differentiator, attracting remarkable talent is becoming more complex.
1. LinkedIn, State of Employer Branding, March 2013
2. EBI “Rise of Employer Brand Research”, Lynda Gratton Hot Spots Movement
© 2013 Cult Collective Ltd.

2. that’s won them a seat on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to
Work For list five years running.
Job seekers perceive a brand’s presence in emerging media
and alignment with current issues as indication of how progressive the brand is and subsequently, how vibrant and innovative
the brand’s work environment is. By articulating their culture
and understanding the needs of their employees, Zappos has
exploited the desire for candidates to know a company outside
of the day-to-day business. They’ve recognized that their most
desirable candidates expect the company they work for to be
on 24/7, and don’t respond favourably to brands that aren’t
engaged in social space and social causes.
stood by children, because, “The ability to communicate with
clients about complex financial ins sues in a very clear and
transparent way should be a prerequisite for all future bankers,”
explains ING Vice Chairman, Koos Timmermans on Facebook.
Candidate answers were subsequently used as the basis for a
children’s book, Curious Little Leo.
What does the brand care about? What do
they stand for? What is it really like to be part
of the organization? These are all questions
candidates are beginning to ask themselves.
Candidate & Employee Engagement
There are other brands leading the HR marketing charge. And,
while they haven’t abandoned traditional recruiting tactics, they
have enhanced the way they approach and engage potential
candidates, as well as existing employees.
During its repositioning as a document solutions leader, Xerox
used videos, employee events and facility signage to communicate what the new brand would mean to its staff, and build
their interest in and support for the new brand promise. Employee engagement was integral to Xerox’s transformation and
continued growth as a Fortune 500 company. Xerox recognized that productivity and the strength of the company brand
both live within Xerox’s workforce. Employees, at first skeptical,
embraced their new work environment. And HR, as a full partner in this effort, made sure employee communications were
consistent and reinforcing, not conflicting.
Savvy brands are leveraging social media to engage job candidates. ING bank took their recruitment to Facebook with their
Next Generation Banking campaign, where future employees
get to explain financial concepts to future bankers, namely 7 to
10 year-old kids. ING scored job candidates based on their
ability to provide simple answers that could be readily under-
An Integrated Approach
Deloitte New Zealand employs an innovative and holistic recruitment strategy through Deloitte Grads NZ; an all encompassing digital and social initiative that serves to reach out to
potential candidates through unconventional tactics and new
mediums. Their Facebook page, Twitter feed and live chat sessions all serve to expose the brand to potential candidates in
new, unexpected ways.
Most notable is their video Q & A, where job candidates can
ask questions about positions and qualifications. ”This will be
the predominant way we will be responding to questions,” says
Paul Jacobs. “It showcases to them that we are human, and
highlights the variety of people working for Deloitte NZ. Our
intention is for Deloitte employees/recent grad recruits to tell
the story behind the brand, using the employee-branding philosophy rather than employer-branded.”
Job seekers perceive a brand’s presence in emerging media and alignment with current issues
as indication of how progressive the brand is and how vibrant the brand’s work environment is.
© 2013 Cult Collective Ltd.

3. Going the Distance
The brands that are getting it right are those who have successfully integrated HR and marketing to project a harmonious voice
and unified presence to both internal and external audiences:
employees, job candidates and customers. HR should be on a
collision course with marketing, especially when it comes to a
brand's social media presence because of the sphere of influence it affects — talent attraction, engagement and retention.
Top brands are recognizing this as the foundation to organizational success.
HR should be on a collision course with
marketing, especially when it comes to a
brand’s social media presence because of
the sphere of influence it affects: talent attraction, engagement and retention. Top brands
are recognizing this as the foundation to
organizational success.
These brands also understand that their social media recruiting
efforts can’t begin and end with a Facebook page or LinkedIn
campaign. Standalone elements may yield some interim results,
but don’t deliver sustained results in the long term. Brands must
go the distance by implementing a seamless approach that ties
together both paid and owned media assets, and must also
integrate with the offline efforts such as career fairs, road shows
and open houses. At this level, brands begin to have real,
meaningful dialogue with job candidates.
After all, conversation is really what it’s all about. Listening first,
and then responding. Authenticity and transparency are cornerstones of good HR marketing and social media can play that
role almost naturally. However, in order to start conversations
with candidates, they must first be made aware that there is a
forum for doing so.
Gregory Damus
As a core member of Cult’s Direction Team, 9 to 5 just isn’t in my vocabulary. I get the job done. I’ve
worked with some of Canada’s largest and smallest companies to plan, develop and execute successful customer engagement strategies that get results. And I was recently shortlisted for Marketing
Magazine’s annual Top 30 Under 30.
e: greg@cult.ca
t: @gdamus
Rob Howard
For the past sixteen years, I've worked with consumer, b-to-b and non-profit brands to strategize and
execute effective marketing communications that get results. Now, I help organizations find, acquire
and serve customers in new ways that foster deep brand affinity and loyalty, and in ways that deliver
measurable return on engagement.
e: rob@cult.ca
t: @HowNowWow
The path to enlightened marketing starts here.
Cult is a leading engagement agency for consumer-facing
brands. We help companies dominate their markets by winning
fanatical loyalty and word-of-mouth advocacy for their brands.
© 2013 Cult Collective Ltd.
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