In September 2024, HENNGE implemented a recruitment advertising campaign to raise awareness and accelerate recruitment activities.
We interviewed Sugo of the Talent Acquisition Section, People Division, about how the ad campaign came about and what went behind the scenes of its production.
My department has a new graduate and mid-career recruiting team, and I am in charge of planning and management for the new graduate recruiting team.
What were some of the challenges HENNGE was facing in its recruiting efforts at the time it was considering this recruitment ad?
We felt that the number of applicants was low compared to our target number of new graduates. One of the reasons for the low number is that students have low awareness of HENNGE, and I think this is partly because HENNGE is a B2B company.
In order for students to recognize a B2B company, active promotion was necessary.
If we could create a state of “I know HENNGE,” then when students saw the recruitment ads and other information during their job hunting activities, they would be interested in that company. I wanted to create such a flow.
I see. So the purpose of this campaign was to increase awareness, boost the number of applications, and accelerate recruiting activities.
Was the target audience students?
In the beginning, it was. We focused on accelerating the hiring of new graduates and obtained a budget for that. We also asked an agency to assist us in designing a customer journey map together and discussed measures to be taken.
In the beginning? Did anything change during the process?
Yes. Midway through the project, we decided to change our policy to accelerate not only the hiring of new graduates but also mid-career hires. And the budget was tripled.
Budget size tripled from the beginning? Why the change in policy?
So far, HENNGE has hired more mid-career hires than new graduates. We discussed that if we were going to invest a large budget with the goal of raising awareness, it would be better to include mid-career hires in the target group.
The budget became larger as the target was expanded.
Yet, it is a considerable increase, isn’t it? What did you think when you heard that the budget had tripled?
Through the planning of the campaign for new graduates, I had a concrete image of what kind of media and measures we could take with the initial budget, but I must admit that I could not imagine it well when it was three times as much. However, rather than being anxious, I was more excited about what more we could do and what we could try.
Excited, I like that (laughs).
Now, can you tell us exactly what kind of advertising campaign it actually turned out to be?
The first major item was outdoor advertisements placed at major train stations. These were placed in Shinjuku, which is said to have the world’s largest number of passengers, and in Shibuya, Osaka, Nagoya, and Hakata stations, where HENNGE’s head office and regional offices are located. At Shinjuku Wall 456 (in the east-west free passageway connecting the east and west ticket gates of JR Shinjuku Station), which is said to be the longest in the world, we took on the challenge of a large digital signage advertisement.
For each location, I visited the site, checked how many people of what type would pass by and how visible the ads would be, and then decided on the location.
The scale of the project was impressive, of course, but the catchphrase “Henge-jin” also had an impact.
This is a brushed-up version of the keyword “Henjin (変人)” that was proposed by the agency. We wanted a unique keyword not used by other companies, a challenging and impactful expression, and the copy “Henge-jin (へんげ人)” was born.
The agency also gave us many suggestions for characteristics of what kind of person a “Henge-jin” is, centered on the expression “hen (変),” so we selected six that were particularly HENNGE-ish.
The six characteristics of “Henge-jin” are displayed on digital signage, but they are also posted on a special recruitment website, aren’t they?
Digital signage is only available for a short time. We thought that this would not fully convey what we wanted to say, so we posted our message on a special website, too.
We wanted to make sure that the message would be conveyed to people who saw the outdoor ads and were interested when they visited our special website.
Sugo-san yourself, is there any particular definition of “Henge-jin” that you think applies to you?
“Enjoy challenging stuffs.” I guess. That’s exactly what I was thinking of when I conducted the campaign.
I see. Can you also tell us what kind of advertising you have implemented other than outdoor advertising?
As a real media for recruiting new graduates, we also advertised in the student cafeteria trays of several universities.
One of our member shared on Slack about that ad that his child had seen it in college.
We also placed web ads on an unprecedented scale for us. While the role of real media was to attract attention and make people aware of HENNGE, the role of the Web ads was to serve as a gateway to a special site where more in-depth information could be obtained.
We designed the lead line based on the assumption of a customer journey, hoping that people would deepen their interest in the special site and proceed to the company information session or casual interview application. The number of visitors to the special site and the number of applications for information sessions, etc. were also set as KPIs.
Each medium had its own role to play in the overall campaign, didn’t it?
We tend to focus on the outdoor ads that have the greatest impact. Can you tell us more what you did to make people deeply familiar with HENNGE?
For example, on X (formerly Twitter), we ran a campaign to give away an Amazon gift card worth 1996 yen for reposts that met the requirements. We did not want to attract people by simply offering a gift, but rather to encourage them to visit the special site and look at the information on HENNGE.
As a result, three times as many people as we had expected participated.
The campaign itself was fun, like a quiz, and that was also very HENNGE-like. What other innovations did you make?
One of the innovations, or rather refinements, we made was the design of the special recruiting site, which we continued to refine with the help of our in-house design team right up to the start of the ad campaign to ensure that it conveyed the HENNGE spirit.
We did not want the site to just convey a sparkling image, but rather to draw people’s attention to HENNGE’s vision, culture, and business, and to encourage them to take action, such as attending information sessions and interviews.
It was an advertising campaign with many challenges and innovations.
How were the results?
One of the KPIs, the inflow to the special recruiting site, exceeded the initial target, reaching 700,000 PV in one month during the campaign period.
In addition, a survey (N=113) of those who participated in information sessions and casual interviews via the special site showed that more than 90% of the respondents thought the ad creative was “unique” and about 80% thought it was “challenging.” We believe that we were able to convey the intended HENNGE spirit.
I was also pleased to hear from students whom I interviewed as a new graduate recruiter that they were interested in “Henge-jin” after seeing our advertisement, and I felt that they saw and understood our message.
I am glad to hear that, too.
Finally, can you tell us about your future aspirations and prospects in recruitment activities?
This was our first attempt at such a large-scale advertising campaign in the recruitment process, and to be honest, we struggled in some areas.
We would like to make the most of this experience and continue our activities to raise awareness of HENNGE in the context of recruitment.
However, as a matter of course, it is not possible to greatly improve the recognition of HENNGE through advertising alone. We would like to continue to actively take on various challenges in the future.
Recruitment activities have a great impact on the future of the company. Although my responsibilities are in the area of recruitment, I would like to achieve results that contribute to the growth of HENNGE and the realization of its vision, beyond the context of recruitment.
In order to make the new employees feel happy that they chose HENNGE, we would like to continue to correctly convey the “HENNGE character” to them and conduct recruitment with fewer mismatches.
I also look forward to working with those who have come to know HENNGE through these activities. Thank you very much for your time today!
A documentary-style video about this recruitment ad campaign is also available!
HENNGE is always looking for new members who are willing to change and take on new challenges. Please click here for more information about the positions we are currently recruiting for.
Hello, Sugo-san! I am happy to talk to you today.
You are currently in the department in charge of recruitment, right? What kind of recruitment duties are you in charge of?