AAF Oklahoma Career Day Campaign

Background
AAF Oklahoma (OKC Ad Club) hosts an annual Career Day event that brings college students from across the state to Oklahoma City to meet with and explore different advertising, marketing, and creative employers in the area.

Project Brief
AAF Oklahoma wanted to drive awareness of the event by creating promotional materials that could be shared directly with professors and students in the various strategic communication programs across the state. Poster designs were a given, and two versions were needed for both traditional bulletin boards and digital notice boards. Social media graphics would also be needed to reach students in the digital spaces where they spend their time.

Strategy & Creative Concept
Students get anxious at job fairs because they realize they are competing against each other for the attention of potential employers, and it’s even worse if the job is with the student’s dream agency. The power imbalance is standard in these situations; students want a job, and recruiters make the decision over who gets hired. The AAF Oklahoma team knew they would have to overcome this perception in order to get students to attend.

The team’s big idea was that the anxiety students have of “I want to work at these agencies” could be flipped to become the confidence of “these agencies want to work with me.” A recruitment poster, similar to the Army’s “I Want You” propaganda posters, would convey this message of empowerment.

A modern version of the Army’s poster was developed, with “Agencies Want You” as the new headline. The visual style had to appeal to modern college students, and it was noticed that lots of students cover their laptops, smartphones, and coffee mugs with stickers. This sticker collage effect was perfect for the event graphics, and it was paired with a pointing finger in an indirect nod to the Army’s recruitment poster.

Social graphics were then developed using the sticker collage effect, and an animated version of the static poster was also created.