Over the past few weeks, a number of us have been involved in assessing, shortlisting and discussing a variety of award entries for an even broader number of awards. It’s been intriguing, exhausting and at times, combative, but it has given us a chance to benchmark where we are against our competitive set.

In a shift from the normal Friday mail, I thought it would be useful if I outlined some of my observations on the digital and web work and highlighted any good (or bad) examples. Apologies for the longform copy, but you are more than welcome to skip to the URLs instead and see what YOU think.

Please note that the comments below reflect my thoughts and observations on work that I feel may be of interest. This piece is not a reflection of the views of the various award panels on which we or I have sat and are not in any way meant to be seen as a reflection of which agency/work may be shortlisted or selected.

There. That’s said it.

Enjoy

TV is dead. Long live the TVC

In a possible allusion to the frustrated desire of creatives in recruitment advertising to produce a TVC, the digital medium of choice for this year appears to have been video. We’ve had short fictional films, film competitions, promotional videos, ‘unseen footage’ clips, staff interviews and of course, happy slapping. Whilst there was quite a diversity in the quality and production of what we saw, what interested me more was the underlying idea behind the use of video and whether the creative objective could have been achieved in any other way. The two examples below, whilst both comparable in terms of production values, represent to me the extremes of what we saw in terms of creative expression and appropriateness of medium.

Teach First (http://graduates.teachfirst.org.uk/Recruitment-trailer.html )

Teach First is a powerful initiative aimed at addressing educational disadvantage, and the limited opportunities that spring from it, by driving up standards and raising expectations in some of the UK’s most challenging urban schools. Teach First aims to attract high calibre, highly motivated graduates into a 2 year programme of teaching and leadership development.

The video is well produced, with an engaging script supported by music that sets out the mood well. Initially the video focuses on all the reasons not to join, with a sombre music supported by even darker script, which focuses on all the problems associated with such a challenging job. Just as you start to question why anyone would be crazy enough to work in such an environment, the music transforms into something more upbeat and positive and the narrators then start to wax lyrical about the broader benefits of working with challenging children.

The video was presented at a number of roadshows and also uploaded to YouTube, receiving 2,006 views to date. It’s a powerful piece, reinforced by an even more powerful message and one that makes the most of the medium.

Compare this to the IBM recruitment video – www.purple-agency.com/ibm/index.html. The aim of the video, which was showcased at a number of graduate recruitment fairs throughout the UK, was to highlight the scope of IBM’s interaction with well known brands from all of walks of life. The client wanted to induce a “wow, I didn’t know that” moment.

As with the Teach First video, it is well shot. However, it takes a long time to load and an even longer time to watch. I doubt I would have continued watching after the first 10 seconds and I’m not really sure why they used video as a format. Personally, I think the brief could have been achieved by a number of different media and would have preferred to see the agency working the brief much harder. Call me a cynic but it just feels that the client has been far too indulgent to the agency in question…

Treading the digital tightrope

In terms of innovation or engagement, much of our work stood out, generating lots of spontaneous “oohs” and “aaahs”; so well done to the team and it would be nice to continue to lead the way in the use of rich media advertising. However, there are a couple of examples below that I thought were nice.

Bath Spa University wanted to attract a working musician with experience of the commercial, production and performance sides of the business – someone to lead the students on tours and help them to record. The ad they produced (http://www.resourcingmicrosites.com/bsu/index.html ) was simple, easy to use and engaging. IMHO it could have gone further, allowing the user to actually play and record music, or even creating a competition to create the best piece of music. But to be fair, I’m sure the budget was limited.

However, what I thought was very smart was the behavioural targeting that underpinned the ad. It ran in the music section of the Guardian – only appearing when someone with an “.ac” address accessed the site or if a user regularly looked at the music pages. Having struggled to generate any interest on two previous occasions, they have already received over 48 applications. Job done, I’d say…

Focusing on a slightly different approach, Shell wanted to find a new way to reach their audience that would enhance Shell’s reputation as a thought leader and make it easier for graduates to find out about Shell as a business.

They achieved this by setting up a channel on iTunes where students and graduates could download Podcasts of Chief Scientist at Shell describing some of the most spectacular innovations in their respective area of the business (http://www.apple.com/uk/search/ipoditunes/?q=the+science+behind+shell). This gave potential candidates the chance to learn about Shell in an engaging format that they could absorb anytime, anywhere – ultimately driving applications to the careers site.

The idea of a podcast isn’t new, but I love the creation of a unique channel on iTunes. It’s innovative, the content would appeal to the target audience and it is recruitment in a much more subtle way – by brand association rather than simple direct response.

New developments on the web front

Given that over 90% of candidates visit a client’s career site as part of the recruitment journey, it would be remiss not to feature a couple of interesting sites. The first site appealed to me because of the customisable feature that it offers; the second because it is an old idea delivered well; the final one simply because of the job app.

To dispel the myths of the Audit Commission as a grey organisation and get students excited about their ideals, the Audit Commission created a new site (www.whatisyouraudit.com/mission) with a customisable homepage, user generated content and dedicated community area. I’m not a huge fan of the design or the illustrative style, but it certainly meets the brief.

There are other nifty features, but given the rise of the number of gadgets being submitted for entry, the most interesting for me was the downloadable widget that allowed users to keep up-to-date from their own social network or personalised homepage.

Underpinned by the creative concept of “Explore the Exceptional”, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority launched a new website, http://www.nucleargraduates.com. The site is designed to mimic the exploratory nature of the role, with a homepage that looks like a graduate’s workspace, post-it notes doubling up as navigation links while movement from one section to another is afforded by panoramic scan.

It’s an old idea in web terms (in fact, it feels like a rehash of the 2005 AKQA website) but you can easily forgive this, as the use of the format is appropriate to the creative message.

The Environment Agency recently launched a new careers website, www.floodriskcareers.co.uk. I’m not a fan of the site, but I do like the job finder. It appears on every page, and can be found in its entirety under Job opportunities. It is an intuitive application, which enables the user to sift through over a hundred jobs simply and effectively.

The future is bright. The future is mobile?

The best campaigns made good use of multiple media and the facility to distribute or access content via multiple touchpoints. Roughly translated – campaigns that worked well did not simply rely on one execution, but a range of formats that could be easily reviewed, interacted with and distributed. The most notable campaign I saw in this context was the Shell Geopursuit campaign, which used a combination of assets that sat on microsites, the iTunes channels, Google Earth and Google Maps. The idea may not have been unique, but then all creative can be boiled down to seven core stories. Or so I’ve been told…

I was, however, surprised at the lack of any mobile work or in game advertising. The latter was surprising given the distribution of free software that makes the creation of flash games incredibly simple (www.sploder.com and www.fyrebug.com are two good examples). The former is perhaps not that surprising, as we have been waiting for a long time for someone, anyone to come up with a bright idea as to how to use a channel which offers an incredibly personal interaction, in a way that is non-intrusive.

Perhaps these are already being explored in 2009? Only time will tell. Hey ho, let’s roll on to results night and see what gives.