Case Study

That’s the Hillingdon feeling

How we put the London Borough of
Hillingdon back on the map – in a
bold and unmissable way.

Talk to us

Engagement

+64%

Awards

Art Direction

Highlights

1

We conducted thorough research and insights into the local area and the people who live, work, and care about Hillingdon.
2

We developed a bold, new employer brand for the local authority in Hillingdon that brought this research to life – emphasising the voices, needs, and achievements of local residents in addition to the impact someone could make working here.
3

We ran a two-part photoshoot on location in Hillingdon. We used recognisable spaces and landmarks in the borough in addition to real employees of the local authority. The imagery was then creatively edited in post-production to create eye-catching campaign visuals that told a story.

Giant woman stands resting her arm on a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain museum

Challenge

The London Borough of Hillingdon wanted an employer brand that would help them stand out in the crowded marketplace of local authority recruitment – especially in areas such as social care.

1

Local authorities around the UK and especially in London, often face incredibly similar challenges and offer almost identical selling points and benefits for potential candidates. Hillingdon wanted to go bold and differentiate themselves from other employers.
2

They wanted to showcase Hillingdon as both an attractive place to live and work, potentially recruiting candidates who’d have otherwise overlooked the borough if they weren’t familiar with it.
3

They wanted an approach that put residents first and emphasized the positive impact employees can have on people, places, and communities within Hillingdon.

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Solution

How we collaborated

1

Our Employer Brand and Insights Team conducted research in partnership with Hillingdon to better understand the voices, challenges, and lived experiences of the diverse professionals who work there.
2

Our Client Services Team worked incredibly closely with Hillingdon to make sure they felt part of the creative process and that it felt like a collaborative project. We held meetings with the heads of each directorate at every stage of the journey to ensure their needs were addressed and the campaign felt like something that belonged to them.
3

Our Creative Team developed a selection of possible routes for Hillingdon to choose from. Once agreed upon, we spent time immersing ourselves in the day-to-day lives of the people who worked at Hillingdon and with the local community. For our photoshoot, we used real Hillingdon employees to represent the organisation in an authentic way.

What we delivered

An employer brand consisting of a core proposition – “You can achieve more with Hillingdon” – and five brand pillars to support the proposition statement and help the Council achieve their long-term vision and ambitions.

A creative concept built on the new employer brand messaging. It showed the positive impact employees make on the lives of Hillingdon residents. It emphasised how the Council put their residents first and the great sense of pride and achievement that comes along with that. It showcased Hillingdon as an attractive place to live, work, and visit.

A two-part photoshoot on location in Hillingdon, using recognisable landscapes and real employees. The creative concept was then brought to life through post-production editing to create eye-catching visuals.

A suite of creative imagery matched with inspirational copy for Hillingdon to use across their social media platforms, recruitment advertisements, and communications.

Results

Here’s what Ofcom had to say about our work…

“Everyone at the Council is incredibly happy with the final results of our work with TMP. We’re keen to commission a second photoshoot that includes even more people from across the organisation and an even wider variety of locations within Hillingdon for us to showcase.”

“I grew up in Hillingdon and I’ve seen the new campaign – I love how well it represents the borough.”
–A former resident of Hillingdon

1000+ roles filled

What started as a project sourcing 400 security officers over six months, quickly grew to 1,000 vacancies in the same time period. There was a large improvement in diversity amongst new security officers – and specifically 48% of the new hires were women.

NPS score +70

We completely revamped the candidate experience. Candidates loved the immersive element of the virtual tests, resulting in an NPS score of +70

94% positive feedback

Even candidates who were not offered positions gave positive feedback, with 1,884 out of 2,000 agreeing or strongly agreeing that the audio interviews were a positive experience.

Better, faster, higher

By shifting the assessment stages to earlier in the candidate journey, we were able to improve candidate quality and test people faster and in higher volumes. This means that the recruitment process can now be scaled up or down with relative ease, depending on Heathrow’s requirements.

80M passengers

Ultimately, Heathrow successfully navigated the candidate market and attraction challenges that have rocked the aviation industry during and after the pandemic, keeping the airport open, with 80 million passengers flying in and out per year.