How do capture a certain something?

Kerry Foods is a global business with real character

It was clear to us that Kerry Foods had a bit of magic to them. It was there in their incredible story (farmer’s field to global business in 40 years). In their everybody-knows-them brands. In their boundless ambition. And in their values that were lived by the business to an extent we’d never seen before. Our challenge? To develop an employer brand that did all of this justice.

We got the stories behind the values

Values are funny things. They’re often set from the very top, and they can lose meaning on the shop floor. So we set out to discover what Kerry Foods’ values – On It, Courageous, Forward Looking, Ownership, Open Minded, Better Together – meant to people all the way through the business.

We did the traditional interviews, focus groups, surveys and site visits. We also went decidedly untraditional – asking 70 of Kerry Foods’ HR team to script and shoot mini-films about the values and how they come to life within the business. It wasn’t just for fun: the films left us in no doubt that the values are a huge part of Kerry Foods.

It all pointed to one thing

The more we learnt, the clearer it became that Kerry Foods’ values, combined with the people who live by them every day, give the business its unique character. The result is a business that is, in every way, Altogether Individual.

So that’s what our big idea was. And to bring it to life, we made individuals altogether tiny.

We created a world made of values (and food)

To bring the employer brand to life, we developed a set of scenarios based on the values. The metaphors, made of food and tiny people, showed what it’s like to work in a business that is Forward Looking, On It, Courageous and so on.

Our characters did everything from working together and leaping off dizzyingly high diving boards to climbing trees and white water rafting.

We also turned some big characters into little heroes

Personal stories can play a huge part in an employer brand’s success, and there were plenty of great ones to tell within Kerry Foods. We sought out the best and, using a 3d scanner, turned the stars into little models. We then put them into photographs that showed where they made their impact.

The resulting stories gave us some nice specific examples to sit alongside the wider metaphorical scenarios.

We created a lot of content

While scanning our little heroes, we captured their stories on video too. This gave us a load of content for Kerry Foods to use on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, their own careers site and, well, pretty much anywhere they want to show people what it means to work there. And as the stories came from right across the business, we’ve got a video for every audience.

And it’s all coming to life in a big way

Online, on exhibition banners, on posters, in adverts and on social platforms, our values-based creative is starting to get out there and tell the Kerry Foods story. Just like the business, it’s bright. It’s bold. It’s attention grabbing. And it’s going a long way.

Results

Although the employer brand is very much in its infancy, we’ve still managed to tick some significant boxes.

We’ve made something magical – Creating an employer brand that shows the world what Kerry Foods is all about, and why they’re an amazing place to work.

We’ve showed diversity – Particularly through the testimonial ads and the website, we’ve brought Kerry Foods’ people to the forefront for the first time.

We’ve showcased Kerry Foods’ love of food – Everything about the employer brand screams food at the top of its voice. Even if you’d never heard of Kerry Foods before, you get an instant impression of what they’re like – and what they like.

We’ve equipped the business for the future – Insourcing their talent resourcing could save Kerry Foods as much as £2m. And with the employer brand guidelines and toolkit in place, they’re ready to do this.

We’ve helped increase engagement – The brand has already contributed to a 1% rise in employee engagement, to as high as 80% in some sites.

We’ve given them a real online presence – The centrepiece of the employer brand is a brand new careers site, bursting with character, values and food. In just its first month, it delivered:

• Over 27,000 users
• Over 2 minutes average page visit time
• Over 11,000 apply clicks to the ATS
• 11,000 views of the videos to the end
• LinkedIn followers has grown to over 33,000 and monthly views from 4,000 to 10,000
• 3,000 Glassdoor profile views
• 4.7 average rating on Glassdoor.

And it’ll only grow from here.

“I have this huge sense of pride working for this business. So being able to have a platform to share that pride, is a hugely powerful thing. I’m really grateful to SMRS for helping us do that, so thank you.”
Director of Talent, Kerry Foods