Employer Brand Management Awards sets benchmark for brand communications

Developing and protecting an organisation’s reputation as an employer is important not only with regards to the attraction and retention of employees, but in terms of the company’s overall efficiency, brand value and sustainability.

The inaugural Employer Brand Management Awards celebrates excellence in creating a successful employer brand and benchmarks the companies that are best able to engage, attract and retain their employees and potential employees.

Andrew Thomas, founder of Cravenhill Publishing, says, “The Employer Brand Management Awards event goes beyond staff attraction and retention – it is about an organisation’s reputation. An organisation can guide and position its own reputation, but it does not own it; ownership is bestowed to an organisation by its audiences or, to use an unfashionable term, its stakeholders. Stakeholders that include, among others, its customers, its investors and its staff and potential staff. The awards focuses on that last group, by examining the organisation’s reputation as an employer.”

The Grand Prix award was given to Odeon and Synergy Creative. Odeon redefined its employer brand strategy and creative immersive experiences for staff to foster a stronger sense of community and fun within the company. The ‘Best creative execution of the employer brand’ award was bestowed upon Lucite International and the Allotment for a colourful and exciting programme that sought to unite Lucite’s 2,200 global employees behind a common purpose.

Other winners include TfL for its digital employer brand campaign, ING for ‘Best management of employer brand through major corporate change,’ Aldi for its external communications, the British Army for its recruitment and employer brand campaign and Fitness First for its work on the employer brand following a major international rebrand last year.

It is as likely that the Employer Brand Management Awards winners excel in their investor relations, their customer communications or their supply chain management as they do in their employer brand management. As much as they understand employer brand management, this year’s winners understand all areas of stakeholder communications. They set the benchmark for employer brand management and for brand communications.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best alignment of the employer value proposition with corporate brand values
Gold - Fitness First
Silver - Amplifon and Hodes
Silver – Avon
Silver - VSO
Bronze - Dixons Carphone and Hodes

Best short-term or one-off employer brand campaign
Gold - Lucite International and The Allotment
Gold - McDonald’s and ThirtyThree
Silver - The British Army and ThirtyThree
Bronze – Transport for London (TfL)
Highly commended – Heathrow Airport and Blackbridge Communications
Highly commended - Schillings and Goosebumps Brand Consultancy

Best employer brand management innovation
Gold - Autism at Work by SAP SE
Silver - Serco and Industry
Bronze - Employment Brand Menu by SAP SE

Best communication of the employer brand to the external audience
Gold - Aldi and Penna
Silver - SAP SE
Silver – GCHQ and Penna
Bronze - IHG
Highly commended – BP
Highly commended - E.ON and Blackbridge Communications
Highly commended - Serco and Industry

Best communication of the employer brand to the internal audience
Gold – BMW Group UK
Silver – ING    
Bronze - Deutsche Bank and ThirtyThree
Bronze - Müller UK & Ireland and Emperor
Bronze - Schillings and Goosebumps Brand Consultancy

Best diversity branding
Gold - SAP SE
Silver - E.ON and Blackbridge Communications

Best digital campaign
Gold - Transport for London (TfL)
Silver - SAP SE
Silver - GCHQ and Penna
Highly commended - Hyundai and Penna

Best use of employer brand in customer marketing
Silver - BW: Workplace Experts
Bronze - Rexel Nederland

Best management of employer brand through major corporate change
Gold – ING
Silver - Haringey and Penna
Bronze - Dixons Carphone and Hodes
Bronze - OneFamily and Cherry Tiger
Highly commended - Müller UK and Ireland and Emperor

Best ongoing commitment to employer brand management
Gold - ODEON and Synergy
Silver - IHG
Bronze - SAP SE
Highly commended - Dixons Carphone and Hodes

Best creative execution of the employer brand
Lucite International and The Allotment

Grand Prix of employer brand management 2016
ODEON and Synergy