Winners & Shortlists

SELL THE JOBLESS

TitleSELL THE JOBLESS
BrandACC (BELGIUM ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNICATION COMPANIES)
Product/ServiceMASTERCLASS COPYWRITING
Category C07. CORPORATE IMAGE & INFORMATION
Entrant Company HAPPINESS BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Advertising Agency HAPPINESS BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Production Company BLISS INTERACTIVE & MOBILE Ho Chu Mingh City, VIETNAM
Credits
Name Company Position
Karen Corrigan Happiness Brussels Creative Management/Strategic Director
Philippe Fass Happiness Brussels Creative Management/Creative Director
Niek Eijsbouts Happiness Brussels Creative Management/Creative Director
Sharif Abdel Mawla Happiness Brussels Concept Provider
Michael Middelkoop Happiness Brussels Concept Provider
Edouard Coene Happiness Brussels Graphic Designer
Mathieu Cardon Happiness Brussels Copywriter Fr
Jan Denys Happiness Brussels Copywriter Nl
Bart Vande Maele Happiness Brussels Agency Producer
Sophie Gunsbourg Happiness Brussels Agency Producer
Nejwa Jacobs Happiness Brussels Account Executive
Aubry Crock Happiness Brussels Account Executive

The Brief

The Association of Communication Companies Belgium (ACC) realised there was a growing shortage of new copywriting talent in the Belgian advertising industry. The ACC was used to organise a Masterclass Copywriting, but this mainly reached out to young talent from ad-schools or interns at different agencies. For this year, it needed to attract new writers from outside advertising. So we needed an inspiring challenge that would motivate every person in Belgium that likes to write while at the same time it would put focus on the craftsmanship of copywriting.

Creative Execution

We showed that the craftsmanship of copywriting is capable of much more than only selling commercial products and services. The creative solution cuts both ways. Sell The Jobless recruited new people for the advertising industry, while at the same time (long-term) unemployed people were given a better chance in finding a job. 5 of them even succeeded in getting a job during the campaign.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

To fill the gap of copywriting talent in the advertising industry the ultimate copy challenge was set up: Sell a jobless person with only words and get recruited as a copywriter yourself. On www.sellthejobless.be (www.verkoopeenwerkloze.be) aspirant writers could pick an unemployed person for whom he or she would write a cover letter. If the jobless person would get a job interview, the writer would go to the Masterclass Copywriting with the chance of getting recruited. The campaign led to 490 participants writing a total of 668 cover letters. 5 unemployed persons found a job, 4 participants got hired as copywriter.

Results

490 aspirant writers participated on www.sellthejobless.be (www.verkoopeenwerkloze.be) All together the participants wrote 668 cover letters for 13 different unemployed persons. 5 of these 13 unemployed persons found a job thanks to the cover letters Of all participants 50 finalists were selected for the Masterclass Copywriting based on the success of their cover letters and creative style, judged by Belgium's top creative directors . During this 2-day masterclass 4 winners were given a job as copywriter at 4 different Belgian agencies. This low-barrier campaign reached outside the world of advertising, making a positive statement about what copywriting is actually about.