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(001) — Case
Branding
Performance
De Jong & Laan - Recruitment
A third more applications, on nearly a third less budget.
In the first year after taking over the account, Adem® rebuilt De Jong & Laan's recruitment marketing around one goal: stronger candidate quality at a lower marketing spend per hire.
+32%
Applications vs the year before
-28%
Recruitment marketing budget
-45%
Cost per application
De Jong & Laan sits just below the Big Five accountancy firms, and without their budgets or brand recognition we needed real boldness and energy to stand out to job seekers in the sector. The view-through rates and brand lift confirm we reached the right audience, in the right tone of voice.
Bart Leferink, Senior Online Brand Strategist, Adem®
01 / The Challenge
The best candidates aren't looking.
What was happening
De Jong & Laan recruits across regions and offices in a tight market, positioned just below the Big Five accountancy firms, reaching talent that is mostly not actively looking.
What made it complex
Reaching a latent audience takes recognition, not another job ad. Awareness, orientation and vacancies had to work as one, and the employer brand needed boldness and energy to stand out.
What needed to change
An integrated funnel with one consistent tone of voice across channels, steered on cost per qualified hire instead of channels optimised in isolation.
02 / The Approach
Inhale, Align, Flow.
Inhale
Understand
Mapped the talent market per region with the recruiters, the competitor 'werken bij' audiences, and what the account needed after the handover.
Align
Decide
Decided which audience insights to lead with, and shaped the funnel and tone per region to move candidates from awareness to application.
Flow
Steer
Continuous optimisation in close contact with the recruiters about the quality of the leads coming in, steering budget to what produced the best hires.
03 / Results & Takeaway
Less budget. Better hires.
Marketing impact
Up to a third of viewers watched the films through to the end, and video view-through held up strongly across YouTube and LinkedIn. Brand search rose 23% in Amsterdam and 24% in Utrecht over three months while it stayed flat nationally: confirmation of the right audience and tone of voice.
Decision impact
Spend judged on one number the business trusts: the cost per qualified hire, decided together with the recruiters on the quality of what came in.
Business impact
Around a third more applications than the year before on nearly a third less budget, with cost per application down roughly 45% and cost per hire down about 23%.
Takeaway
Recruitment marketing gets more efficient once it is steered as one funnel instead of optimised channel by channel: better candidates, at a lower cost per hire.
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