In May 2012, Litzky Public Relations (LPR) was hiring for two entry-level positions. In an effort to stand out and tap into an emerging social media trend, the employees at LPR created a “Call Me Maybe" recruitment video that ironically requested applicants not call, but rather e-mail their resumes to the agency. The video was created to help attract talented candidates. Once the video went live on YouTube, websites such as The Huffington Post and Mashable picked up the story and the video. TV stations from Texas to Las Vegas featured clips of the video on their news broadcasts, and over 100 resumes flooded in. Everyone from friends to clients called to congratulate the agency on its success, and the video prompted a few new business discussions! While we at LPR pride ourselves on being up-to-date on the latest PR techniques, social media trends and pop culture sensations, we also take pride in our careers and our place of employment. So, when two positions at LPR opened up in May 2012, we decided to marry our knowledge of social media with our pop culture prowess to create a recruiting video that would reach creative and enthusiastic candidates on YouTube. The goal of our video was to generate buzz about the positions while attracting talented candidates. The strategy behind the video was to use the popular Carly Rae Jepsen song “Call Me Maybe" to give applicants a taste of LPR’s distinct office culture. From office yoga and bagel Fridays, to a sneak peek at “A Day in the Life of LPR," including some of the more mundane tasks like packing boxes to send to media contacts, the video gave viewers a glimpse of what it is like to work at LPR, all while allowing our personalities to shine. Shortly after the video was released, we received over 100 resumes (five times the number of current employees at the agency!). People around the globe were sending in applications, writing on our Facebook wall and tweeting about the opportunity. Before we knew it, the story and video landed on popular websites such as The Huffington Post, Mashable and The New York Post. The judges should select LPR’s “Call Me Maybe" Recruitment Video to win a Shorty Award, because in just seven days we exceeded our original goal of generating buzz about the two open positions at no cost. In the end, the video garnered more than 122 million media impressions, and now we are famous among family, friends and clients for our shameless dance moves.
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDVg6kJfDqk
