BECO | #STEALOURSTAFF | 2020
A Job Ad That Says "Please Steal Our Staff" / BECO "#STEALOURSTAFF"
"Please steal our staff." BECO printed résumés right on their bottles and put them on the shelves of major supermarkets. Getting poached is usually every company's nightmare—but BECO made it happen on purpose.
The problem
BECO is a social enterprise that makes soap, and eight out of ten of its staff have disabilities. In the UK, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than twice that of people without. And while nine out of ten companies claim to champion diversity, fewer than 4% actually make real accommodations for it.
The insight
The idea was simple. If a big company poaches a BECO staff member, that opens up a spot for BECO to hire another person with a disability. Small companies train people up, big companies scoop them away—BECO called this the "feeder club" structure, and decided to use it to their advantage instead of fighting it.
The idea
They printed staff photos and résumés right on the soap packaging and put them on shelves at Boots and Sainsbury's. They sent boxes containing CVs directly to CEOs, and turned their website into a job portal. In the video, a staff member with visual impairment pokes fun at a clumsy audio guide. Instead of the usual serious, sympathetic portrayal of disability, they went for laughs.
What happened
More than 40 brands showed interest in hiring BECO's staff, and some staff actually did move to new jobs. Sales rose 96% year over year, and the campaign won the Grand Prix in the Health & Wellness category at Cannes Lions.
Afterthought
It's a campaign designed so that the brand growing and staff members getting hired elsewhere both count as success at the same time. It didn't stop at "please buy this"—it pushed all the way to "please hire this person," and that actually happened. I'd love to work on something like this someday.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2020
