Repositioning the Employer Brand at MAN
Client: MAN (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg)
Agency: Grapevine Marketing GmbH
Year of implementation: 2017
Problem
As MAN’s products and services are less well known alongside MAN’s trucks and buses, they have difficulty in attracting qualified workers, despite their enormous innovative power and lasting commercial success. Therefore, the company’s image as an attractive employer in a global market must be expanded. Here, MAN is fighting against its conservative image and against the prejudice that their industry is a classic male domain.
Solution
In times of low recruitment demand, targeted events can have positive effects on the employer brand. They provide an opportunity to build stories of what it’s like to work at MAN that can be used in future employer brand and EVP communications. With this in mind, we developed a storytelling concept (see figure 1) for an important MAN event, the 'Formula Student Germany'. The media plan, which focused on three social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube), was based on a modular principle matched to pre-event, live and post-event communication. Besides using game-typical elements in communication (see figure 2) and the creation of a suitable logo, content was developed in a range of formats and variety in order to maintain a high level of interest amongst the target audience.
Results
Using metrics from the channels we used in the campaign, we were able to achieve an incredible reach and engagement rate which included:
- The Facebook page MAN Karriere recorded a community growth rate of more than 30 percent with more than 1,400 interactions.
 — On Instagram, 40 percent of people reached on Instagram interacted with the brand.
Consistent positive feedback and professional inquiries demonstrated to MAN and our team that we had taken the right approach to reach and engage the target audience.
Apart from increasing employer brand awareness for MAN and generating Facebook and Instagram Fans, we were able to recognize, through the interaction amongst students in particular, that they perceive MAN as authentic, appealing and approachable.