NYC ACS, Case History
Youth Development Specialists Recruiting Campaign
Teaching at-risk kids requires a special skill-set, and mindset. Our recruiting campaign for Youth Development Specialists had to connect with a special breed – a cross-section of people who are hard as nails on the outside, but soft and caring inside. These ranged from motivated mentors who simply wanted to make a difference, to street-smart adults who overcame their own checkered pasts. But as we soon discovered, the inspirational and uplifting feel of our initial approach (seen in the two happy-faced executions below) didn’t fully hit the mark…
Although lead generation was greater than expected, the happy-go-lucky feel of our message was appealing to the gentler, more nurturing portion of our target audience…
…In short, kid-focused mentors were applying in droves. But many weren’t equipped to work in a “classroom” surrounded by barbed wire, prison doors and armed guards. So we adjusted. Capitalizing on the flexibility and cost-efficiency that digital executions allow, we created, posted and tested multiple Facebook videos featuring a grittier tone and more graphic detention center images and messages. We incorporated all our learnings on the fly into the :60 spot at the end, and the campaign ultimately generated XX% more leads than the target goal.