Connecting Grant Thornton with top-tier graduates

As Grant Thornton was on a mission to recruit highly-talented graduates, they decided to recruit our help first.

To stand out from the competition and speak directly to their Gen Z audience, we created an edgy yet relatable campaign – connecting these young professionals to the firm on all the right channels and through an array of online and offline content. By speaking their language, we helped Grant Thorton smash those goals, and then some.

The competition for recruiting talent is stiff across all industries, and Gen Z graduates are looking for more than just a job: they want purpose and opportunities for career development.

So when Grant Thornton set a goal to hire 170 grads, they asked us to create a recruitment campaign to help it stand out and align with its target audience’s values.

Given that most graduate campaigns were taking the “We’re different” angle, we looked for an opportunity to connect Grant Thornton to students in a way its competitors could not.

To do this, we conducted qualitative research that included stakeholder interviews, graduate focus groups and surveys to find out what makes Grant Thornton stand out to young professionals as a place to work.

Our research found that graduates appreciated the fun, friendly vibe at Grant Thornton. We also found four key characteristics that separated Grant Thornton from its competitors and resonated with Gen Z:

1. This rapidly growing business sees each employee as more than a number.
2. It has a flat open structure built on mutual respect.
3. Workers have a level of autonomy that encourages growth and development.
4. Support is guaranteed and hard work is recognised.

Next up, we needed to communicate this to graduates in a way they would listen to. We developed the proposition “Less that, More this” to highlight that the firm’s values align with what Gen Z looks for in a career after college.

We crafted an edgy, authentic, and shareable communications plan that spanned the website, social channels, video content, graduate brochures and offline activities.

Hand-drawn elements, playful photography, and bright colours were used across all of these assets, accompanied by a friendly tone of voice.

And, knowing that bite-size, visual content is more likely to attract Gen Z, we developed GIFs, memes and short graduate-centric videos to prompt visits to the Grant Thornton website to learn more. These GIFs and memes were also used for backdrops, pull-ups, and other displays at campus events and recruitment fairs.

By developing a fresh and relatable campaign that resonated with graduates, Grant Thornton smashed every one of its initial goals – successfully filling 170 open graduate roles and receiving 82% more applications in 2018 compared to the previous year.

The icing on the cake? The campaign helped Grant Thornton to win bronze for Best Student Marketing Campaign at the GradIreland Graduate Recruitment Awards.