Already one of the most trafficked job sites in the world, Indeed says it’s embarking on a global advertising campaign to pump up its brand among job seekers and employers alike.
Until now Indeed’s growth has come with little marketing effort on its part. In less than a decade the job aggregator has gone from startup to take first place (or second, depending on what’s being counted) in job search traffic in the U.S. and in many parts of Europe. It’s less well known elsewhere, principally in Asia.
With the growing influence of LinkedIn, and its aggressive expansion — most recently into China — Indeed is facing some of its strongest competition. Whether that’s prompted the company to launch its first advertising campaign isn’t known. It could also be that Indeed’s owner, Recruit.com, has simply been taking its time since acquiring the job board in 2012.
Recruit.com, based in Japan, is a conglomerate in the truest sense, owning online consumer merchandise sites, job services, staffing firms, human resources services, online classifieds and more. It owns the leading job sites in Japan and holds an interest in 51Job, one of China’s two largest job sites. In 2011, Recruit bought Staffmark for $295 million making Recruit the fifth largest staffing provider in the world.
However, the branding campaign launched first in the U.K., where Indeed is a leading site for job searchers. In the announcement, Paul D’Arcy, senior vice president, marketing at Indeed explained, “Indeed was founded on the simple purpose to help people find jobs. Even though we have grown to become the number one job site in the U.K., there are still people who don’t know Indeed. With this campaign, we are celebrating the amazing things that get done when talented people come together to do ajob.”
Themed “How the World Works,” the 30 second spot uses actors sourced by running ads on Indeed. The multi-million dollar campaign is the product of three agencies, Mullen, Mediacom, and Hotwire PR. It is being rolled out globally over the next several months, hitting the U.S. in September.