The Arc of Massachusetts
The Arc of Massachusetts provides care and community to people with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD), including autism. The Arc does amazing work fostering self-determination, confidence, and community integration for those with IDD. The challenge is finding and retaining the staff to do the work. The pay is not great. But the payoff is. Forge created The Arc Marketing Collective to reach and recruit compassionate, dedicated individuals – Direct Support Professionals – to care for this valuable population.
Campaign Success
Brand Platform & Personas
To sell new recruits on the meaningful work available at The Arc – from assisting those with IDD with their daily activities to helping them integrate into their local communities – we identified 7 key personas of care givers and their motivations to help. Overall, a big part of the net worth of our target personas is their self-worth, bolstered by doing work with life-changing impact for others. We also discovered these recruits deeply value a sense of community, of family, and of belonging. The people and the stories at The Arc are inspiring. To attract the right kind of talented, committed people to The Arc we simply shared the authentic truth about The Arc, and the meaningful work opportunities and relationship opportunities found there.
Integrated Advertising Campaign
Our recruitment campaign theme, “work with all your heart,” helped give all The Arc chapters throughout Massachusetts a shared voice, serving as an inspiring foundation to tell our caregiving stories. An integrated online and billboard campaign in strategic locations throughout Massachusetts helps us showcase the emotional benefits of working for The Arc. A shared website shepherds searches to chapter locations, streamlining operations and applications. The results? A 29% lift in brand recognition following campaign launch. 36 million targeted impressions to date. 187 thousand visitors to the campaign website, and a 48% lift in job applications year over year during the months of the campaign.
Video
Part of the mission of The Arc is to give people with IDD, including autism, and their families, a voice. To un-marginalize them. To that end, we chose to have The Arc clients speak for themselves, performing job interviews to camera for positions available at The Arc. It’s honest, powerful, and memorable, literally personifying The Arc mission. (Plus. . . everyone participating had a good time.) We also developed videos for web and social featuring heartfelt testimonials from current employees covering an array of emotional benefits that appeal to our target profile recruits. It was a privilege to work with The Arc and their amazing clients and staff.