• by Danielle Oster , January 7, 2025

Employment website Indeed is trying to address the frustrations of both job seekers and employers with its new campaign, while suggesting there’s a better way to work.

“Why are people still matched to roles based on degrees rather than experience? Why is a person’s network more important than their skills? With this campaign, we’re addressing the elephant in the room for jobseekers and employers,” Clíona Hayes, senior global brand and advertising director at Indeed, said in a statement. “And at the same time we’re expressing our confidence that Indeed can provide a more transparent, inclusive, and efficient hiring process.”

Indeed launched its “The World Can Work Better” campaign Jan. 5, with a pair of TV ads addressing such issues -- “Competitive Salary” and “Hospitality Degree” -- appearing during coverage of the NFL’s final week of regular season games. From there, the U.S. portion of the campaign is expanding to run during other national events, including the College Football Playoffs and NCAA Women’s Basketball, as well on platforms including Hulu, Max, and Prime Video.

The effort will also include two additional spots in the U.S. focused on “Self Promotion” and “The Introduction.”  The campaign has already expanded into France and the U.K, with Indeed running a total of two ads in each country.

“Each spot challenges the status quo with humor and empathy, pointing out the unnecessary realities of today’s hiring process, spotlighting Indeed’s role in connecting both employers and jobseekers with better work,”  and positioning the brand as providing “solutions to the modern hiring landscape’s absurdities,” with salary transparency, and “skills-first hiring,” an Indeed spokesperson told Marketing Daily,

Indeed’s internal creative team collaborated with 72andSunny on the campaign, the brand’s second campaign with the creative agency.

Both the focus on big sports events, and the overall timing of the campaign, were strategic choices. “The media buy focuses on live events to capture viewers’ attention during programming they are less likely to fast-forward through,” said the spokesperson. The timing was designed to “raise awareness at a key time of year” when more people are motivated to begin searching for new career opportunities.