Advertisers increase standards as skills shortage bites

Eye-catching, colourful, strong design and witty copy are a few phrases used by judges to describe the winners of The Irish Times Recruitment Advertising Effectiveness Awards 1998.

Eight awards were made in six categories chosen from hundreds of entries. The recruitment advertisements varied greatly in design and ranged in size from small to full-page advertisements in colour and lack and white.

Chairman of the judging panel, Mr Peter Cassells, general secretary of ICTU, believes this year's crop was different from recruitment advertisements in the past.

"Apart from just advertising the jobs and qualifications needed, there was a realisation that more and more companies and organisations are dependent on not just the educational levels of employees but their ability to innovate, communicate, take responsibility and work in teams," he said.

Computers proved the most competitive category again this year, as jobs in the industry often far outnumber the employees suitable to fill them. Cendant Software's entry, with advertising copy written by John Feehan, was the eventual winner with a visually striking strongly designed full-page advertisement.

A recruitment advertisement's effectiveness was a key factor in the judges' decision in the various categories. The winning advertisement in the Finance category, designed by McConnell's Recruitment Advertising for AIB, received 9,000 applications. The panel was impressed by the clever text, written backwards to demonstrate AIB's different outlook.

The Sales and Marketing award went to a Mark Mitchell Recruitment advertisement that used black and white with blue as an accent colour. The judges cited both clean design together with the clear use of word and picture among its attributes. It was produced by Arks Advertising.

Ms Maeve Donovan, general sales and marketing manager at The Irish Times, said the introduction of new technology meant advertisers now have more options than ever before. "On the print side the inserter has provided us with more colour and more pages. More colour, especially front-page colour, has brought even more new readers and we now sell an average of 111,243 copies per day," said Ms Donovan.

The newspaper now has the capacity to run a 36-page Business This Week 2 section and has already carried over 160 more pages of appointments than last year.

In Ireland's highly competitive recruitment market, attracting the right employee through creatively packaged advertising is essential. The award winner in the General Management category achieved this aim, according to the voting panel. The KPMG/National Gallery advertisement, designed by Bell Advertising, was cited because "the simple and classical use of the gilted frame ensured that they reached their target audience and received an excellent qualitative and quantitative response. The position was filled".

The Engineering & Technical category attracted the most entrants, but Vision Consulting was the judges' favourite. The advert, designed by Javelin Direct, used strong imagery to appeal to highly qualified, independent-minded graduates while building Vision Consulting's corporate identity.

An IBM recruitment advertisement designed by Bell Advertising won the Personnel & Training award. Smaller teaser advertisements appeared prior to the publication of the main advertisement. The final, full-page advert - "We're calling you" - used fun and friendly images to represent active lifestyles.

This was typical of many entrants. They were "not just an advertisement for a job, more an ad for the type of person they wanted and type of organisation they were," said Mr Cassells.

Sadly, not all entry categories met the panel's expectations. "The most disappointing category was medical and education. There was no award this year because none of the advertisements came up to standard," said Mr Cassells.

Instead, two awards were given in the Special Merit category. Xerox Europe was commended for using its logo in an innovative way - turning its distinctive "X" into a kartwheeler on the beach. Javelin/Young & Rubicam, was responsible for the advertisement.

Judges were also impressed with an imaginative effort by Cuisine de France. Bell Advertising combined a computer mouse and baguette producing an ad that played humorously on the belief that IT people are exceptionally well paid. The copy read: "Everyone says I.T. people make the best bread. This is only true in our case."

Bell Advertising has won an award every year since the contest's inception in 1988.