Monster.com and Alicia Keys: 2011 IMA Award Winner

CATEGORY: Best Web-based Loyalty Marketing Campaign
AGENCY: The Marketing Arm
CLIENT: GameStop

Looking to change jobs or score your first one? How would you like to be the social media voice for a recording superstar’s nonprofit organization? That was the incentive offered in a campaign developed by agency The Marketing Arm and online job lister Monster.com, in an online search for someone to fill the post of head blogger for I Am a Super Woman [www.IAAS.com], the women’s empowerment site launched by Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys.

Keys wanted to conduct a global search for the right applicant and turned to Monster.com for its presence in 50 countries. In turn, Monster.com gave The Marketing Arm a campaign brief that included generating awareness and buzz for the campaign among the broadest possible audience, driving traffic to the Monster website (the only place where the Keys listing could be found), and underlining Monster’s competitive difference for employers by spotlighting its proprietary 6Sense search technology, which matches the best candidates in a large qualified pool to hirers’ specifications.

Using Keys’ April 2010 appearance on “Good Morning America” to announce the job search, Monster.com placed header ads for the exclusive listing on its website and followed through with an integrated campaign that included online banner ads on newspaper sites in 25 major U.S. markets, targeted email to 4.3 million names on Monster’s lists, and PR and social media support.

Within two months, the campaign had amassed 8,600 applicants, a 72% jump over the target goal of 5,000 candidates. It also racked up 295,000 job views, outperforming that goal by 18%. In May 2010 the top-10 applicants were flown to New York to meet with a selection committee, and the three leading candidates were then brought to London to blog the Black Ball, an annual fundraiser for Keys’ Keep a Child Alive foundation to help struggling families in Africa and India. Fans were able to follow the job competition in social media, viewing the posts each blogger logged from the event.

In June 2010, the search ended where it began—on “Good Morning America” where, after a live performance, Keys announced her choice for the IAAS.com head blogger spot: Alexis Tirado, a former online editor for MarthaStewart.com. The live announcement generated more than 160 tweets, bringing total program impressions for the campaign to 20.33 million—an increase of 27% over the targets set by Monster.com and The Marketing Arm.

The campaign also won the pair a Promo Pro Award this year for the Best Campaign on a Budget Under $250,000.