CB LIFE: ATTRACTING THE BEST & BRIGHTEST ACCOUNTANTS
The Collins Barrow recruitment initiative needed a new look and a couple of ideas getting young talent into their offices. We went down a bit of an unusual route, but one that was successful and ultimately changed some stigma around accountants, well, in Canada at least.
Role: Creative Lead (Project strategy creation, pitched ideas/designs + pushed new concepts for a more interactive approach)
Credits: Writer: Judy Margolis / Digital Director: Jeff Shaw / Designer: Clint Rodgerson / Junior Designer: Aman Ghuman / Marketing Director: May Katorji
Creative Strategy
Get a CB life! (getacblife.com)
3. CTA
2. Targets
A. Primary - accounting and finance uni students.
B. Secondary - career accountants looking to work away from the ‘big four’.
1. Prime focus
Attract new recruits to work at a growing accountancy that isn’t in the ‘BIG four’.
But how?
CHANGE THE BORING INTO FUN!
+
Accountants are rad!
Accountants have a terribly boring stigma attached to them and we needed to change that so we could attract young ‘numbers people’ to Collins Barrow.
USE SMALL NUMBERS IN A POWERFUL WAY.
Collins Barrow isn’t in the ‘BIG four’ and that’s their advantage.
By promoting a personal experience to new recruits meant they weren’t going to be just another cog in the machine, they were going to be the cool, young, talented accountants they always wanted to be - just like their peers who we put up in lights.
What we did
We took a bunch of accountants from the CB offices all over Canada, photographed them being their awesome selves, filmed them talking about their careers, then created a big bunch of promotional pieces over a variety of platforms to entice other young accountants to come and join them.
Interviews
Starting in the Toronto office, we conducted several interviews with a range of recent recruits from partner and senior level staff to grad students and junior level.
Asking them what attracted them about working at Collins Barrow, what their journey was to get the job (job sites / recruiters / referrals etc) and if the current job finding process could be easier.
Collateral
We then created materials for recruiters, career expos, enquiries and current staff to have on hand to attract people in their field towards working with Collins Barrow.
+ Direct Mail
+ Brochures
+ Website refurb (limited)
+ App for external and internal recruiters
More Interaction
The printed materials worked really well, but there was a need for more digital interaction.
pitched a few ideas including a website refurb (very limited due to stakeholder control) and a potential ipad app created for internal and external recruiters who wanted something cool to use at the face-to-face contact stage.
CB Life App: UX + IA
In the collaborative brain-storming session, a few common themes emerged for the app content:
• Current job board (nationally) - map/list
• Information and advice (about roles, career building and office perks)
• A way of testing potential recruits for personality fit: a game or questionnaire of sorts
• Testimonials/cool work stories
DOWNLOAD: Pages from the client presso with Competitor Analysis and Insights
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: 1. INITIAL DESIGN & 2. DETAILED SECTION
WIREFRAMES: INITIAL ROUND BASED ON MAIN REQUESTS + ONE USER JOURNEY
CB Life App: UI + Pitch
I pitched some high fidelity tablet app pages using the same branded styles I developed for the printed materials. The app ideas were designed for iPad size as this is what the recruiters used on the road mainly.
HOME PAGE
Design notes:
Having the testimonials on the home page was something the client wanted, so we put 12 up via captivating faces and a pop-up to accompany.
HOME PAGE: TESTIMONIAL POP-UP
User taps Get a CB Life button
OR CB Life icon on pop-up
GET A CB LIFE MENU OPTIONS
User taps Map option
OPPORTUNITIES: MAP VIEW
User taps Job Heading
User taps List option
OPPORTUNITIES: LIST VIEW
OPPORTUNITIES: JOB DESCRIPTION
Design notes:
As these designs were originally for a pitch document to get our client excited about a potentially arduous app-creation process, I took it upon myself to create some 'out there' ideas and injected some fun stuff like Easter eggs and playful language around possible job relocations.
The client really liked the idea of some interactivity like the blind-style animation being pulled down to roll up. Little things, but they really delighted in the details.
User taps Green star Easter egg
OPPORTUNITIES: FUN REASONS (FROM Easter egg BUTTON)
What I learned: Things change! I learned that designing with flexibility and non-preciousness is key to both good design and being able to 'hear' what a client wants and needs. Having pre-conceived ideas makes the process so much more difficult I found.
Working with Collins Barrow
It was a big challenge at first for our clients to trust the new creative direction — small steps for us but huge ones for them. We dropped a lot of new visual concepts and were totally stoked to see how quickly they were embraced.