NSAC Indeed Project Workbook
The Plansbook is the first half the NSAC project each year. This book lays out the team's research and startegy for judges before the competition, and offers a "first look" at our big idea when heading into creative. While the plansbook isn't strickly advertising, it is an important part of the process, and demonstrates our understanding of the sponsor company, and the problem that they need solved. As Senior Copywriter of our team, I overall all the copy of this document and made sure that our research, insights, personas, and big idea all followed into a single story. We created this plansbook over fifteen drafts, during which I had a hand in every word that was included, if I didn't write them directly. But, there are a few pages that I am particuarly proud of and would like to highlight.
What we discovered was Gen Z wanted better jobs, better opportunities from their work. They cared less about their compensation and more about all those benefits that come with their job. Gen Z was looking for something better.
The idea of our plansbook was to ask the right questions. Gen Z the hardest generation to advertise to, and maintaining a connection with them as a brand can be especailly difficult. With Indeed, we wanted to know where the disconnect was between our client and their target audience. So, we asked ourselves. What does Gen Z want?
But, Gen Z is a big generation, full of a lot of individuals. Telling Gen Z that we can offer them something better with no other context was like opening a resturant with only one thing on the menu. Sure, some people are going to love that one item. But what about everyone else? Something better for someone working an office job is going to look completely different than better for someone working in lawn care, or construction. The list of things that Gen Z could want better is literally infinite, so how do you advertise "better" without coming off as generic, or only covering some of the bases? We needed to find a message that could apply to all of Gen Z while still feeling unique and authentic to the individual.
So, to start figuring that out, we wrote a letter...
Our letter to Indeed was meant to lay out exactly what Gen Z thinks of the job hunt and what they want from it. While I cannot claim that the beautiful signature at the bottom of the page, or the graphics are mine, the words are. This letter laid out problem right out into the open, and prepared the reader for what came next. Our solution. Our message to Gen Z as a company. Our Big Idea.
Find Your Better ____, is an idea that I take great pride in. This singular message allowed our team to take any of those millions of workplace "betters" and turn them into ads for all kinds of people. No matter your profession, passions, hobbies, etc. this message was made to appeal to you.
Find Your Better ____, became the heart of our campaign. It allowed us to reach as much of Gen Z as possible, while allowing our viewers to create their own, unqiue answer to fill in the blank. Of course, in our advertising, we never left the blank completely empty. We instead used a version of this message that we nicknamed "The Wheel of Better" to show our viwers what it was all about.
This message style worked like a drop down menu that would scroll between different options for all out ads. It would remind anyone who saw it that the ad they just saw is only one of hundreds of ways the blank could be filled. Plus, it would get them thinking about all the ways they would want to fill that blank at their current job, and push them toward Indeed to make their better a reality.
If you want to check out the rest of the plansbook, I've included it below:
