Robert Half

Transforming a global brand with humor

Robert Half is a Fortune 500 company, the largest specialized staffing firm in the world, with 15K+ employees and $6B in annual revenue.

Working for this outstanding organization for nearly six years, I promoted a vast array of content, including blog articles, whitepapers, webinars, inclusion and diversity, accolades, and more. The biggest annual campaign is a set of salary guides, helping job candidates and hiring managers assess fair compensation for hundreds of roles - with adjustments by market. Typically we published a couple of assets a week, for four months. Some of the content was serious, some fun, some designed for engagement, and some for lead generation. We measured performance for each post, channel, medium, and even tonality.

When I joined Robert Half, it was a very conservative, buttoned-up brand. Over time, as we created and tested content employing humor, analytics made a strong case for the brand to lighten up a little. Turns out that not only do people like to be entertained - they appreciate brands that don’t take themselves too seriously. Here are some examples of high-performing content (both serious and humorous) created and published by my team.

This provocative image, tapping into angst over hugely profitable corporations not sharing the wealth with their employees, was our top performing post of 2017 - and didn’t inspire any negative comments. The content was relevant to both current even… — This provocative image, tapping into angst over hugely profitable corporations not sharing the wealth with their employees, was our top performing post of 2017 - and didn’t inspire any negative comments. The content was relevant to both current events and the salary guide being promoted.

A major concern of many employees is pay equity, i.e. being paid the same as someone else with the same skills doing the same job. This video approaches the subject with humor, and offers a solution.

This video appears to be a static graphic, but uses subtle animation to illustrate the voice of the speaker. This was published at a time when the format was quite rare on social media. The content positions the brand as a valuable resource for job seekers.

“Turning Point Tuesdays” is episodic video, featuring people whose lives were positively influenced by Robert Half. On the surface, staffing can seem like a pretty dull business. These videos illustrate the life-changing impact that comes from getting a job that fits your needs, skills, and interests.

Recruiters throughout the company enthusiastically share this content as evidence of the magic they weave every day, and in the process they expand the reach of the brand.