Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack continues its successful job portal promotion with a new advertising campaign and proves that placing all print ads online automatically and matching each one precisely, encourages and motivates advertisers and jobseekers alike.

“Here you will be found!“ – is the claim of a new advertising campaign which has helped the Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack (Hannover, Germany) to increase its online job portal user figures significantly since April 2008.

The portal was launched in March 2007 with the Madsack titles “Hannoversche Allgemeine“ and “Neue Presse“. The online partner group has expanded during 2008 to include “Göttinger Tageblatt“, “Eichsfelder Tageblatt”, “Schaumburger Nachrichten“, “Aller Zeitung“, “Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung“ and “Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung“.

Through targeted marketing activities (see earlier case study; “Expanding the CV Database”), the number of active CVs exceeded 2,000 within a few months after the launch of the online job portal and, to prevent stagnation of active CVs and as a reaction to a growing number of inactive CVs, the marketing strategy was radically changed at the beginning of 2008 when Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack abandoned the original approach of selling online ads as upgrades.

Instead, in April 2008, Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack moved to a new policy of publishing every print ad automatically on the online job portal with matching. Relevant and matching job opportunities are communicated to the jobseekers, and vice versa. Employers also get notification as soon as new suitable applicants have put CVs into the job database.

Substantially increased attractiveness of the online job portal was expected from these measures because of the obvious added value of match ads.

In order to communicate these innovations, a new ad campaign was designed. This was targeted – with two different versions – at jobseekers (claim: „Here you will be found!”) and employers/job agents (claim: “This way you don’t have to search very much!”). The advertising messages focus on the automatic matching process of CVs and job offers as the USP of the online job portal. This is visualized in the ads by the contrasting imagery of a needle in a haystack and a needle attached to a magnet. Starting in April, the ads were published weekly in the job sections of the newspapers – usually placed opposite each other as a double page spread. The campaign was supplemented by the distribution of CityCards and

20-second radio spots on the local radio stations “Radio FFN“, “Hitradio Antenne“ and “Radio 21“. Additionally, during the promotion period, USB-sticks were given away to support the campaign. This promotion was also featured successfully during the first “Hannover Job Fair” (result: 270 CVs in 2 days). The campaign has been a success. Since the change in strategy in April until the end of July, the number of CVs has increased by 30%. At the same time, the proportion of active CVs has increased because of the higher levels of activity on the online job portal.

The development of the user figures since the launch of the job portal makes one conclusion certain; It is only through continuous advertising, constant editorial coverage and, where applicable, targeted marketing activities, that the number of active CVs can be developed in the long term.

• Outsourcing
• CV-Database
• The New Madsack Campaign – “Here you will be found”
• Digital Sales is a Success