Indeed Launches Campaign to Rehumanise Hiring

Indeed, the world's largest recruitment platform, has released a brand campaign that attempts to balance its move towards AI automation with a message about human connection in hiring.

The Jobs Need People campaign was created with creative agency 72andSunny and has been launched across television, streaming platforms, YouTube and social media channels.

According to a Harris Poll survey conducted for Indeed, 81% of people apply for a job and never hear back from the employer. The same survey found that 45% of job seekers have no idea if they are qualified for the roles they are applying to.

Job seekers spend six hours on average researching and applying for jobs, but more than half assume they will never hear back at all.

"We're leading a new era of hiring with our brand campaign," says James Whitemore, Chief Marketing Officer of Indeed.

Agency partnership expanded

Indeed named 72andSunny as its global agency of record in March after years of creative collaboration.

The agency said at the time it would tap into the "universally personal experience" of job-hunting through "bold, human-centric storytelling that is globally resonant" while "speaking to local markets' unique needs".

Jobs Need People marks the agency's first work since becoming Indeed's global creative agency of record.

"The partnership between 72andSunny and Indeed is built on a foundation of humanity and deep trust, which shows up in the work we do together," says Marianna Malina, North America CEO of 72andSunny.

AI matching technology positioned

The campaign positions Indeed as what the company describes as a "sophisticated, AI-powered matching engine".

Indeed says its AI matching engine uses a talent pool of more than 665 million job seeker profiles. The matching engine captures more than 100 insights per second, including job descriptions, pay preferences and other factors.

The software uses semantic matching to understand the context of a candidate's experience relative to job requirements.

"AI can make hiring faster and more efficient, but hiring is ultimately a decision between people," says James.

"Job seekers want to feel seen, valued and recognised for more than just keywords on a resume, while employers want the clarity to connect with the right candidates, faster and with confidence."

Full funnel media strategy

The campaign will run as a full funnel media strategy across multiple channels.

"The campaign reinforces the belief that jobs need people as much as people need jobs," says James. "We will achieve this through deep media engagement, sports partnerships and integrated experiences."

The campaign includes a series of launch films that feature the people behind job applications.

"Hiring can easily become a volume game where employers are overwhelmed sorting through applications and job seekers feel overlooked," James explains. "We believe there is a better way, which is why our new campaign shifts the narrative from searching to matching."

"Hiring shouldn't feel like a search. It should be a discovery," he continues.

"We are building toward a future where job seekers don't have to wonder if they're qualified or if they'll hear back, and where employers can spend less time sorting through volume and more time connecting with the right people."