The Context
As specialists in talent solutions and employer brand campaigns, we partnered with WP Engine to help them take the next step in employee acquisition.
Our goal was clear: to activate an exciting, consistent global employer brand campaign that ‘takes’ the market, attracting the best talent to their business.
The Challenge
A company in which the opportunities to grow and learn are plentiful, WP Engine expresses its purpose as “Powering the freedom to create”.
We thought, what if we were to frame talented people as the very fuel that WP Engine runs on? How could that thought inspire potential candidates around what makes WP Engine different? Therein lay the seed of our idea: “People-powered creation”.
To capture the brand’s distinctive culture, we built out a strategic plan to host a series of deep-dive sessions with WP Engine team members, ranging from its founder and CEO to its talented set of developers and technical engineers. The significance of these interviews and workshops was immense; the key learnings unearthed from our research would be critical in the creative development and execution of this campaign.
The Idea
With the new Limerick office serving as a literal blank canvas, we enlisted the talents of one of Ireland’s leading muralists, Claire Prouvost, and gave her the freedom to create a bespoke art installation.
Her inspiration for this piece would be the words and testimonies of people working in WP Engine – those who have already been given the freedom to create their own roles and futures.
Activation
After conducting and recording in-depth interviews with WP Engine team members from around the globe, the testimonies were used to inform Claire’s work in real-time on the day of the video shoot.
Bestowed with the freedom to create art that embodies the culture at WP Engine, Claire’s work is vibrant and spirited – it is an artistic expression of what it means to be part of the WP Engine community. Bringing to life the company’s key values of diversity, ambition and learning, the campaign video captures the energy of life and the sense of unity among team members at WP Engine.
WP Engine - Powering the Freedom to Create - Storyboard
WP Engine - Powering the Freedom to Create Video
The Campaign Roll Out
As part of the campaign roll out a suite of digital assets were created. The video campaign, along with a range of careers page marketing and PR material, videos, GIFs, photography, and spotlight shareables were lined up to support the launch of this campaign.
The impact of our employer brand campaign for WP Engine would be firmly rooted in our commitment to getting under the skin of the brand in the early stages of strategy development.
The campaign won an IDI Award in 2021 for the category “Use of Video in Design”, with the judges commenting, “The confidence and beauty of this idea are so refreshing and so human, and the ability to have convinced WP Engine of this approach is great.”
Speaking of the brand’s work on this project with The Pudding, Darren O’Dwyer, Lead Talent Advisor EMEA at WP Engine says, “For our employer branding campaign, The Pudding overachieved. The end result was not just unbelievable assets for the recruitment drive, but instead, a campaign that we can use going forward for international marketing, now and into the future.”
In 2022, the campaign went on to win a MUSE Award for “Branded Content – Recruitment”, an NYX Video Award for “HR Campaign” and 2x LIT Awards for "Marketing and Advertising".
