This week, we distill insights around The Candidate - a video compilation of secretly filmed job interviews at Heineken. For more about The Candidate, visit: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights/heinekens-the-candidate-peoples-insights-volume-2-issue-27/ 100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on reputation, employee engagement and citizenship on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick up one project and do a deep dive into conversations around it -- on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web -- to distill insights and foresights. We share these insights with you on our People’s Insights blog and compile the best insights from the network and the blog in the People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine, as a showcase of our capabilities. We have further synthesized the insights to provide foresights for business leaders and changemakers — in the ten-part People’s Insights annual report titled Now & Next: Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement, now available as a Kindle eBook. For more, see: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com/future-of-engagement

1. Reputation | Employee Engagement | Citizenship
Heineken
The
Candidate
People’s Insights: Volume 2, Issue 27

2. What is The Candidate?
The Candidate is video
compilation of secretly
filmed job interviews at
Heineken. The interviews
were designed to get
applicants out of their
comfort zone and to help
the brand identify the right
talent.

3. How it works
Interviews were filmed
and the best three videos
were uploaded to the
company intranet, where
employees could vote for
the candidate best suited
for the role.
Source: elmaaltshift.com

4. Viral Journey
The Candidate film was
published on Heineken’s
Facebook page in
February, 2013. Web media
shared it on their social
media channels, creating a
knock-on effect that made
the film go viral.
Source: Mashable.com, YouTube Statistics

5. The right approach for millennials?
By changing the interview
structure, Heineken
demonstrated that its not
just another job but It’s a
meaningful one – which is
what Gen Y and soon Gen
Z want from work.
Source: linkedin.com

6. True to the brand value
The campaign fits right in with the brands
attitude of ‘Open your World’. Through the
various stages of the campaign it not only
managed to make candidates look
beyond the ordinary but also gave the
outside world a glimpse into its culture,
thereby strengthening the reputation of
beer = fun.
Daylon D’Cruz
Associate Account Director at MSLGROUP
India
Thinkers point out that the
campaign gives people
the opportunity to explore
their own calibre and real
worth, and strengthens
the reputation of “beer =
fun.”

7. A China perspective
Yes, I do think it works. Of course we won't
use the same way to do the interview, but we
could create some sessions to test a
candidate's reactions and feedback. According
to my personal experience, I've never heard
any company do something similar in China. I
believe it would be appropriate to set
something like The Candidate in round one.
Judy Luo,
Director at MSLGROUP China
Thinkers commented
that Heineken’s
approach to hiring talent
could be adopted in
countries like China as
well.

8. Engaging future employees
The campaign
successfully grabbed the
interest of future
employees – Heineken
reported a +279% traffic
increase to its HR
sites and +317%
increase in CV’s
submitted after
campaign launch.
Source: Huffington post

9. And current employees
The Candidate also
helped establish the
“Open Your World” brand
strategy internally. 91%
of Heineken employees
watched the video and
found it stimulating for
their job.

10. Recognition in the industry
Marketers too supported
the unconventional
approach, and Heineken
was awarded a Gold Lion
in the PR category at
Cannes Lions Festival of
Creativity 2013.
Source: Twitter.com

11. Read People’s Lab insights & foresights
The People’s Lab team shares the insights and foresights from the
MSLGROUP Insights Network on the People’s Insights weekly blog , quarterly
magazine and annual report.
MSLGROUP
INSIGHTS NETWORK
100+ MSLGROUP planners
share and discuss inspiring
projects on reputation,
employee engagement and
citizenship.
PEOPLE’S INSIGHTS
WEEKLY BLOG
PEOPLE’S INSIGHTS
QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
We deep dive into
conversations around one
project to distill insights and
foresights.
Every quarter, we compile the
best insights from the network
and the blog into a magazine,
as a showcase of our
capabilities.
For more, visit http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights

12. People’s Lab: Crowdsourcing Insights &
Innovation
People’s Lab is MSLGROUP’s proprietary crowdsourcing platform and
approach that helps organizations tap into people’s insight for innovation,
storytelling and change.
For more, visit http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights

13. For People’s Lab solutions,
please contact:
pascal.beucler@mslgroup.com