The journey from speaking carrots to shrinking clients

Back in March, we got a room full of Kerry Foods’ HR professionals to create values-based videos starring vegetables with faces – all in the name of robust employer brand research, of course.

Back then, we were in the early days of our research phase. To our veg videos, we added focus groups, leadership interviews, site visits – everything we could think of to get our heads round what made Kerry Foods tick.

From this, we drew out the key themes for our employer brand. And, rather wonderfully, they lined up neatly with the business’s values. It’s lovely when that happens – and rarer than you might think.

Building on this, we came up with our proposition and our ‘big idea’ – Altogether Individual. It was inspired by the history, ambitions, character and people that make Kerry Foods the amazing business it is. It felt like something we could have a lot of fun with. And this is exactly what we’ve done.

For our expression of this employer brand, we’ve created a world of food. We’ve come up with landscapes and scenarios that show Kerry Foods’ values in action. And we’ve made it personal – finding great people stories to go with the more overarching stuff. To do these stories justice, we got the stars 3d scanned, turned into little models, and then put them into settings that show where their stories made the most impact.

We’re coming to the end of the project now, and it’s been a hoot. We’ve presented at a racecourse, and toured a lard factory. We’ve raised awareness and shrunk humans. We’ve made vegetables talk and values sing. And, on both sides, we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.

What has it all resulted in for Kerry Foods? A new careers website, for a start. A new look and message for people communications. And all the tools and confidence they need to go forth and tell the world exactly what makes them, well, altogether individual.