Our Work

Oranga Tamariki approached us with a recruitment challenge that they'd been facing for Youth Workers. They had a large number of positions to fill, and they struggled to both retain and attract candidates to the role, due to various factors. Advertising for Youth Workers required careful planning, particularly because there was significant media coverage at the time. This was against the backdrop of incredible media scrutiny related to the agency.

What we knew was that our campaign needed to make an impact. It couldn't be too controversial, but it had to be punchy enough to remind the community of how important the role of a Youth Worker at Oranga Tamariki is. Ultimately, it had to rise above the negative chatter and reinforce positive stories.

Our task was to reshape the role through a media campaign, screen out candidates as much as in to ensure the right people were applying, and shine a positive light on the work Oranga Tamariki does. We knew that we needed to convey to the community that while the job might not be glamorous, it's crucial, and finding the right kind of people for the role is essential.

We settled on a three-month-long targeted media campaign focusing on Auckland, to meet their initial needs. We presented three creative concepts, ranging from bold to a bit more conservative, but all geared towards making an impact. What we landed on was a campaign titled “This job is not for you, it's for the rangatahi”.

The goal was to develop a targeted media initiative that reached a fresh audience to attract individuals with the right qualities and attributes, rather than specific skillsets, who may have considered this work before, or not. This involved not only using online media such as programmatic ads, Google Ads, and YouTube but also extending the campaign to locations with digital screens, such as gyms, sports centres, and Giggle TV. This strategy aimed to reach individuals like sports coaches and community-minded people in diverse settings so that we could attract the right people for the role.

The campaign delivered great results, with approx. 50 new hires. However, what stood out in our conversations with the Oranga Tamariki team was the high quality of applications, leading to a better success rate in selecting candidates. Compared to other ongoing campaigns with Oranga Tamariki, ours performed extremely well. The media metrics, including click-through rates, exceeded average benchmarks on all platforms, likely due to the striking message and creative. The campaign reached a broad audience, generating an impressive 3 million impressions. Moreover, it was cost-effective, demonstrating efficiency with an impressive media cost per hire of $901.94.