LinkedIn’s top 25 inspirational brands

Can Smart Recruitment Creatives Save the World?
2
In the Oscar nominated film “The Imitation Game,” Keira
Knightley’s Joan Clarke was hired by Alan Turing, played by
Benedict Cumberbatch, to join MI6’s top secret
codebreaking operation during World War II. The test? In
record time, she solved a crossword puzzle which Turing
placed in The Daily Telegraph.
While the movie’s plot took much dramatic license—in real
life, Clarke never took the test, her Oxford professor helped
push her into the program—the British government did
recruit codebreakers at the time using crossword puzzles in
the newspaper. Ultimately, the codebreakers cracked
Germany’s Enigma code, shortening the war by at least two
years, saving 14 million lives—making this crossword puzzle
one of the most fascinating recruitment ads in world history.
Today, the fun challenges continue in inventive recruitment
ads that target creative problem solvers who excel in their
industry, be it technology, finance, marketing, or others.
So sit back and enjoy our compilation of some of the most
creative recruitment ads we’ve seen across mediums of
print, online, out of home, and beyond.
We hope these ads will inspire you to think out of the box,
and help make your recruitment efforts more impactful and
effective.
Keira Knightley in “The
Imitation Game”
LinkedIn › Inspiring Recruitment Ads
A crossword puzzle
published in 1942 in
The Daily Telegraph
to attract talented
code breakers
(source and answers)

Industry: Nonprofit
website
3LinkedIn › Inspiring Recruitment Ads
Mensa Singapore
Are you Mensa enough to be a
member? These mysterious
print ads were specially created
for the members-only society
for the mentally elite.
Spoiler alert! The encrypted
headline in the first ad reads:
“Are you the prodigy we’re
looking for?”
INSTANTLY ATTENTION-GETTING
EASY TO READ LAYOUT, GENEROUS
NEGATIVE SPACE
SIMPLE CALL TO ACTION
Print

Royal Air Force
The cinematic, interactive mission
is as close as it gets to the real
experience of being on the job.
Learning about the job description
is an unforgettable adrenaline rush.
EXUDES CONFIDENCE AND BELIEF IN THE
MISSION
EXCITING, EMPOWERING MESSAGING
ENGAGING INTERACTIVE CONTENT
Industry: Military
LinkedIn Company Page | website
Online

Imagine Learning
Software developers can use code for
good. They can use their skills to level up
their career paths and change the world.
The billboard was part of a targeted
campaign from Imagine Learning, the
maker of language and literacy software.
The campaign also included a dedicated
website and recruitment videos.
POWERFUL HEADLINE
EASY TO READ LAYOUT
CLEAR FOCUS ON CALL TO ACTION
BOLD USE OF COLOR
Industry: E-Learning

EverythingMe
EverythingMe makes personalization software
for Android devices. These ads are aimed at
just the type of puzzle solving, comic book
hero fan-ing, cartoon humor loving, board
game wizards the company’s looking for.
SUPER CREATIVE CONCEPT
EMPOWERING MESSAGING
SPEAKS TO THE TARGET IN A DIRECT, PERSONAL WAY
COMPANY CULTURE SHINES THROUGH
Industry: Internet
Online

HomeAway
Why work for Homeaway? You’ll be part of a talented and passionate
global team that’s revolutionizing the vacation rental industry. Your
work will be both challenging and rewarding because it helps families
create unforgettable vacation memories together. And you can do all
this while wearing flip flops.
DYNAMIC, ENGAGING PHOTOGRAPHY
EXUDES CONFIDENCE
SHOWCASES COMPANY CULTURE
Industry: Internet
Online

Deloitte
By the looks of these ads, one wouldn’t be able to tell that the company
was founded more than one and a half centuries ago, in 1845. Deloitte’s
fresh and relevant recruitment strategy is part of how the company
keeps its status as one of the leading professional services firms in the
world.
BOLD DESIGN + COLOR THAT COMMANDS ATTENTION
EXUDES CONFIDENCE AND BELIEF IN THE COMPANY
Industry: Management Consulting
Online

Bloomberg
How do you attract young, hungry talent to join a 30-year-old
company with 10,000+ employees? By telling them they’ll be
empowered to take risks and make a difference.
BOLD DESIGN + COLOR THAT COMMANDS ATTENTION
EXUDES CONFIDENCE AND BELIEF IN THE COMPANY
Industry: Media, Financial Services
Online

Red Hat
The world’s leading software provider of open
source solutions would like to show you how fun
it is to don a Red Hat.
DYNAMIC, ENGAGING PHOTOGRAPHY
CREATIVE WAY OF EXTENDING BRAND; I.E., RED HAT
SHOWCASES COMPANY CULTURE IN AN AUTHENTIC WAY
Industry: Computer Software
Online

BPS World
The United Kingdom-based company likes
to think of itself as a resourcing specialist
with a difference: “We push the boundaries
through our innovative solutions. Our
capability is far broader than the traditional
recruitment remit.”
To communicate this to clients and
candidates, the company created a highly
differentiated look and feel to make its
brand stand apart from the rest.
FRESH, OPTIMISTIC DESIGN
COHESIVE LOOK & FEEL ACROSS WEBSITE, ADS,
SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES
Industry: Staffing and Recruiting
Online

Lugera & Makler
Would you trust the infamous criminals
Bonnie and Clyde to manage security for
your company? This ad points out how
important it is to partner with the right
headhunting agency.
SUPER CREATIVE CONCEPT
CLEAN LAYOUT, CLEAR FOCUS ON MESSAGING
Industry: Human Resources
Print

TBWANEBOKO
“Where” matters. The advertising agency’s “Quit
and Join Us” campaign was printed on shirts of
window cleaners before they washed the
windows of competitor agencies, audaciously
tempting potential hires.
BOLDLY GOES WHERE THE TARGET IS
THINKS BEYOND TYPICAL CHANNELS
Industry: Marketing and Advertising

Flickr
Who’s looking at your code? Well,
coders of course. Flickr cleverly hid
a “we’re hiring” announcement,
delightfully adorned with ASCII art,
in the HTML source code of its
homepage.
SPEAKS TO THE TARGET IN A DIRECT,
PERSONAL WAY
Industry: Internet

Uncle Grey
How did this advertising agency
recruit a front-end developer by
playing a video game? Watch the
video and learn.
PERSONAL WAY

Work Club
The London based digital
marketing agency is recruiting for a
creative director, one Pinterest pin
at a time.
PERSONAL WAY
THINKS BEYOND TYPICAL CHANNELS,
CREATIVE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

BP: Interview Tips
The animated video helps
candidates prepare for their
interviews by coaching them on
each step of the application
process.
Watch the video
REMOVES THE FEAR OF INTERVIEWING
HELPFUL, USEFUL CONTENT
USES ANIMATION AND MOTION
GRAPHICS TO MAKE CONTENT
DELIGHTFUL TO CONSUME
Industry: Oil & Energy
Online

Herman Miller
USES DESIGN TO MAKE THE TALENT
BRAND AS ARTFUL AS THE COMPANY’S
PRODUCTS
SINCERE, SPEAKS FROM THE HEART
ECHOES COMPANY’S VALUES
Industry: Furniture
Online
Herman Miller: This is You
CREDITS: Herman Miller, Fairly Painless
Herman Miller: 108 Years
CREDITS: Herman Miller, Part of a Bigger Plan

Facebook
Facebook created a series of video
ads to showcase their company
culture, targeting specific types of
candidates from engineers to
marketers, and from interns to
international positions.
FEATURES EMPLOYEES OF ALL TYPES FOR
AUTHENTICITY
SHOWS INTERESTING PEEK INTO OFFICES
SINCERE, SPEAKS FROM THE HEART
Industry: Internet
Engineering at
Facebook
Global Marketing
Solutions at Facebook
Intern & New Grad
Opportunities
Facebook Careers in
Asia-Pacific
Online
Connecting the World Takes Every One of Us

HubSpot: Inside Hubspot
"It's a start-up. We have a lot of fun.
We work really hard.“
Watch the video
FEATURES EMPLOYEES FOR
AUTHENTICITY
SHOWS INTERESTING PEEK INTO OFFICES
NOT AFRAID TO TALK NERDY
Industry: Internet
Online

Ready to Kick
Your Recruitment Ads
Up a Notch?
LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions Specialists can help
you get your next recruitment campaign off the
ground. Contact Us.
Before launching your next recruitment ad, it may be useful to
remember what you liked about your favorites from the
recruitment ad campaigns you just saw, and think about how
you can apply the learnings and design best practices to your
own campaigns. By nature, a good ad creative can’t be all
things to all people. But you could use these questions as
thought starters to guide and help spark creativity and ideas.
Is the call to action clear?
Is my company’s talent brand accurately reflected?
Does the design command attention and make people stop
and want to read it? Is the copy as succinct as can be?
Did we mention the best part of working with us?
Will the target candidate get a good sense of our team culture?
Will the target candidate know what makes our company the
best in class?
Did we demonstrate to our targets that we know them and
understand their needs?
Did we speak from the heart?

CREDITS
Design commentary provided by Shiny Day, a California creative agency.
© 2015 LinkedIn Corp. This book is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available
at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Please note that the ads
illustrated in this book are included by permission of their respective copyright
owners and may not be used or distributed separately from the book.

LinkedIn’s top 25 inspirational brands

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