Title	FUTUREPROOF
Brand	DT
Product/Service	DT
Category	A05. Consumer Services / Business to Business
Entrant	SAATCHI & SAATCHI London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	SAATCHI & SAATCHI London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement	MINDSHARE Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Media Placement 2	MEDIACOM Hamburg, GERMANY
Media Placement 3	EMETRIQ Hamburg, GERMANY
Media Placement 4	PULSE ADVERTISING GMBH Hamburg, GERMANY
PR	PROUD ROBINSON Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM
Production	SOMESUCH London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2	PUBLICIS SAPIENT London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 3	RADIOAKTIV FILM Kiev, UKRAINE
Post Production	FACTORY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 2	ELECTRIC THEATRE COLLECTIVE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 3	MIRACLE MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT GMBH Berlin, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Kate Stanners	Saatchi & Saatchi	Chairwoman & Global Chief Creative Officer
Guillermo Vega	Saatchi & Saatchi	Chief Creative Officer
Franki Goodwin	Saatchi & Saatchi	Executive Creative Director
Tobias Tercic	Saatchi & Saatchi	Copywriter
Hernan Dietrich	Saatchi & Saatchi	Art Director
Nathan Crawford	Saatchi & Saatchi	Art Director
Charlottte Jude	Saatchi & Saatchi	Agency Producer
Nayab Malik	Saatchi & Saatchi	Creative Producer
Sam Wise	Saatchi & Saatchi	Head of Planning
Mathieu Abet	Saatchi & Saatchi	Planning Partner
Clare Shaw	Saatchi & Saatchi	International Client Services Director
Terri Turner	Saatchi & Saatchi	Account Director
Cali Fish	Saatchi & Saatchi	Account Manager
Talveer Uppal	Saatchi & Saatchi	Lead Conceptual Designer
Nicholas Pires	Saatchi & Saatchi	Senior Motion Designer
Emmet O'Shea	Saatchi & Saatchi	Designer
Sam Sheridan	Saatchi & Saatchi	Designer
Rollo Jackson	Somesuch	Director
Emory Ruegg	Somesuch	Executive Producer
Hannah Cooper	Somesuch	Producer
Booby Shore	Freelance	Director Of Photography
Dan Beckwith	Factory	Sound Designer
Luke Morrison	Electric Theatre Theatre	Colourist
Thorsten Konig	Miracle Music	Music Management

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Gen Z are telcos’ super users. They use twice as much data as the average customer and shape mainstream digital behaviours. They have high lifetime value but are willing to break with brands that do not reflect their needs and priorities. This is the story of how we designed a new support platform with Gen Z, for Gen Z at a time they needed it most, and how we used response-driven creativity to get 1.6M of them to use it.

Background

Deutsche Telekom recognised that their highly valuable younger audience was less engaged and embarked on an ongoing mission to rejuvenate the brand. As part of this long-standing commitment, Deutsche Telekom uses connected technology to support Gen Z through key societal issues. Underemployment was one such issue. A 2019 study showed that 50% of the EU’s young workers were in temporary jobs. Only 13% by choice. Gen Z could find A job but it was harder to find THE job. The arrival of COVID-19 escalated the issue. The class of 2020 was about to step into a world of work put on hold. Our own research showed that more than 1 in 2 European Gen Z were concerned about their post-pandemic futures. At a time when Gen Z was feeling the pressure to settle for any job, we set out to stand by them and help them realise their true potential.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Project Futureproof is a support platform from Deutsche Telekom that aims to inspire & support Gen Z to identify future careers and uncover skills they do not know they have. Project Futureproof is about facing the future with confidence. It’s a message of digital optimism hinting at the career opportunities that will naturally evolve from this generations’ current passions. It is these careers linked to existing passions and making up the flourishing passion economy which offer the most potential to be futureproof. At the heart of the campaign is a free-to-access digital tool that uses well-established, vocational personality modelling to help to connect young people with potential future career clusters. Alongside the tool, an online hub features helpful resources dedicated to supporting young people with a broad ongoing range of initiatives. Both the tool and online hub were developed in collaboration with Gen Z contributors and skills & employability experts.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Research highlighted a tension between what Gen Z look for in a job and what is available to them. On the one hand we have a generation driven by passion that values meaningful careers. On the other hand, we found a generation that had their horizons narrowed and were feeling the pressure of securing any job. We resolved this tension in two ways: Firstly, with an inspiring campaign of digital optimism stressing the career opportunities that are naturally evolving from this generations’ passions. Secondly, with a tangible tech solution designed to support Gen Z and show them in a personalised way how their passions can help them build a future they can be excited about. By focusing on established Gen Z passions and their predicted futures, and by showing up in places where those passions resonate, we managed to drive intrigue to visit the platform and boost direct response credentials.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

“If you have a passion, you have a future”. We launched the campaign with an optimistic short film that invited young people to choose utopia over dystopia and trust that their passion will support them. Billie Eilish, who cameos in the film, amplified the launch on social media together with a host of Gen Z influencers. To build on the momentum, we launched a Snap lens and partnered with TikTok creators to showcase the career opportunities linked to various generational passions. With the awareness of the platform building, a range of hard working assets invited young people to visit the platform in paid social, search and programmatic display. Beyond the tool and online hub, we went out and created real world spaces and opportunities such as an internship programme, a Chief Tomorrow Officer recruitment drive, online classes, one-on-one career advice with recruiters and talent managers and more.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Project FutureProof tool was used by 1.6M Gen Z with active users spending an average of 5 minutes 34 seconds. The campaign generated an overall earned reach of 559M+. More importantly, we seem to have caught the zeitgeist as whether we look at the US the UK or Germany, in every country young people are saying no to low paid, low skill “dead end jobs” and demanding more from themselves and employers post pandemic.