If nothing else, video branding is without a doubt the recruitment trend du jour. Hardly a recruitment conference is without at least one workshop (here’s one and another) on the subject. ERE has a discussion group devoted to the subject. There are even entire websites devoted to the subject.
The wonder is that with so much attention paid to the subject, there are so many uninspired videos. You can find them everywhere. A college recruitment video from Appalachian State University, described as the worst recruiting video ever, is so bad it’s become a legend.
And then there are the “jobs” videos that newspaper websites still manage to sell to unsuspecting hiring managers and recruitment associates.
So why is Mike Nale jumping into employer video branding with a half-hour TV show?
“This is not some boring video clip of some company,” insists Nale, founder and managing partner of Honolulu based The Brand Management Group (profile; site). “This is really unusual stuff.”
We haven’t seen any of the actual employer videos, though there’s a show sampler online.
But Nale’s vision is convincing. “We’re doing a segment on a skydiving school,” he tells us. “We’re going to show you what a work day is like jumping out of a plane over an island in the Pacific Ocean.”
Another planned segment is on a seafood restaurant that is growing and needs 10 more people. “It’s a company profile, with real human interest,” Nale says. How’s that? “There’s always good people stories,” he says.
That 30 minute shows called “Help Wanted Hawaii” will have two or three magazine style employer pieces, a segment on employment and job trends, job hunting tips and career advice and possibly stories from career fairs or job hunter interviews and the like. Interspersed among the pieces will be the commercials, preferably employer branding videos.
Pulling off a show like this is not easy. We haven’t found anything on the mainland U.S. that fits Nale’s vision. Undaunted, Nale tells us his secret is producer Jeff DePonte. Owner of JDesign, also in Honolulu, DePonte has done work for Children’s Miracle Network, PBS-Hawaii and for local Hawaii stations and companies. If the “Help Wanted Hawaii” work is even half as good as DePonte’s demo video, the show might just last the planned 13 episodes.
The show is set to debut on Aug. 7th on a cable channel. It will also be posted online. Watch the blog for details.