Putting the human back into the HR industry.

The challenge.

SD Worx is a leading European provider of HR & Payroll solutions. Yet, having only recently entered the UK market, they had very low brand recognition. To counter this, the plan was to capture the imagination of the HR community and provide a thought-leadership platform to introduce and build the SD Worx brand. To develop a high-impact campaign and boost brand awareness amongst HR professionals, we needed to pull out all the stops…

Creating a little mischief.

Our solution was to create a bold, three-phase, multi-channel programme of activity tapping into topical issues within the HR industry around artificial intelligence (AI).

Phase 1

Stimulate debate and build intrigue within the HR community.

Meet HARRI – Human Advisory Resource: Robotic Interface. An HR robot powered by AI that was seemingly all set to take over HR departments and replace the role of HR Managers! In a brave move we kept the first phase anonymous, with no mention of SD Worx. We created a spoof robotics company with its own branding, website and impressive animated launch video, backed up with ‘real-life’ testimonial videos from companies already trialling HARRI. Deployed via social and digital media activity, the campaign created a storm of interest and engagement across the HR community.

PHASE 2

Reveal that HARRI is a hoax and introduce SD Worx.

We produced and created a ‘reveal’ video combining 3D animation and live footage to show HARRI in action. While he is super-efficient, he lacks human empathy. We showed him failing in this crucial respect before revealing SD Worx was behind the hoax and introducing our campaign theme: ‘You can’t take the human out of Human Resources’. This was supported by an extensive integrated campaign spanning social and digital media, content marketing and direct mail promoting SD Worx as the industry thought-leaders: ‘SD Worx – The future of HR’.

PHASE 3

The HR community meet HARRI face-to-face.

Behind the scenes, we were bringing HARRI to life. Working with a TV & film props designer we created our very own life-sized HARRI, who walks, talks, interacts and displays a range of emotions. HARRI made his debut appearance in front of 600 HR professionals at the annual SD Worx conference, enjoying an on-stage discussion with the MD of SD Worx and selfies with the attendees.

HARRI delivers ROI.

Results far exceeded expectations. Over the three months the campaign ran for, the video content was viewed over 800,000 times and the campaign achieved significant reach with 165,000 digital display impressions and over 1.5 million social media impressions. Feedback during the event was tremendous, too, with many commenting and sharing their HARRI photos and selfies via social media. And finally, to build on the initial success, the campaign continued with a series of HARRI video sketches, a HARRI roadshow around the UK, ongoing content, social and digital activity.

+1.5M

social media impressions

+32%

increase in brand awareness

“ Creating HARRI the HR Robot gave us the impact we needed. His promotion through social media was supported by superb video content for both phases of the campaign and produced a storm of debate. The delivery of the campaign ensured we reached the specialist HR audience. ”

Head of Marketing

SD Worx UK & Ireland

SD Worx

SD Worx

The challenge.

Creating a little mischief.

Stimulate debate and build intrigue within the HR community.

Reveal that HARRI is a hoax and introduce SD Worx.

The HR community meet HARRI face-to-face.

HARRI delivers ROI.

+1.5M

+32%

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