written by Timothy Yew, Vice President, Creative from Big Advertising

Singaporeans are, above everything else, a conservative and pragmatic bunch. For a nation that prides itself on its ability to attract, recruit and retain the best talent within its shores, the business of recruitment and executive searches should be the yardstick of how we have evolved to successfully attract higher quality talent. Hence, you would think the advertising strategy of such vendors would at least reflect quality, creative and impactful messages but sadly, the ads do not. In fact, the ads have often been more functional than memorable, and reflect a contradictory and rather disturbing trend, that spells imitation rather than innovation, passivity rather than inspiration and complacent malaise rather than heightened awareness of the target audience.

Flip through any trade magazine, turn to the senior appointment pages and have a field day finding examples of flat, tasteless search ads with such formula-centric execution that you wonder whether or not they learnt their ad layouts from the same textbook or engaged the same graphic designer. Kelly Services, Michael Page and Hudson ads, all contain similar images of similar models, generic template sidebars and career propositions. All very useful, all very practical, all very mechanical. The ads failed to put forward the prestige of the agency and actually, by proxy, the prestige of the clients they represent.

Check out Michael Page’s recruitment ad. The generic headline, the models with the bad skin and bad hair coupled with it being a full-page ad, makes its tackiness even more obvious. It implied that these unappealing guys and gals are examples of hired candidates. Yucks!

But there is hope. Executive search firm Aquent’s series of ads are both refreshing and effective. The message is focused and unveils a basic desire why people, in their case, creative industry folks, look for change. The ability to take notice and develop something so ordinary like knowing your coffee dispenser well and turning the common into the core message is clever. The intentionally-drab photographic treatment also enforces the mundane atmosphere and draws, rather than repels the audience. Most importantly, the ad provides branding and gives Aquent a top-of-mind recall and implied prestige not achieved by their competitors. The Aquent ad shows that the firm knows its industry, the candidates they are after and understands the way their audience thinks. Therefore, when contrasted with forgettable competitor’s ads, Aquent’s efforts simply looked brilliant.

I am glad there is still a speck of creative decency in search ads and I look forward to more of the same. As an afterthought, perhaps it is not so much about branding one’s search business but over-proclaiming that your firm is the premium service provider of choice. The gentle art of branding and the beauty of subtle persuasion seem to be lost.

After all, executive searches involve long-term business transactions where the soft touch counts. Does it not?