Our Cause is Our Code

For over 10 years, Thorn has been dedicated to defending children from sexual exploitation by eradicating child pornography from the internet. To deliver on this mission, they needed an employer brand to attract and retain elite tech talent.

To develop the employer brand strategy, we leveraged existing employee data gleaned from quarterly pulse surveys as well as onboarding and exit survey insights. In addition, we contracted an outside resource to conduct focus groups with employees across four primary hiring areas of the company. We then conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and members of leadership to gain their prospective on the company, expectations, and successes of existing employees as well as insights on the type of talent the organization needs to continue to deliver on the company mission. We also looked at the competitors to understand the white space in attracting top talent.

The outcome of the work was the development of the Employer Brand. This included developing the positioning statement that defines who Thorn is, what they offer, and who they seek to attract. In addition, the work defined the core attributes that differentiate Thorn and inform the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) pillars and a new campaign tagline, “Our cause is our code.” This work was incredibly valuable, as the EVP pillars enlighten talent as to why they should consider joining Thorn and remind employees why they should stay. Content messages were developed for each pillar to serve as the foundational, unified voice when developing communication pieces.

With clearly defined talent acquisition positioning versioned for existing employees and potential candidates, we launched an activation plan that included a new careers section of the website with compelling new messaging, information, and interactive content to engage technical talent. A new “Join Us” video was developed to align with the EVP which featured Thorn employees and unscripted testimonials describing what is like to be a part of Thorn. This video is featured prominently on the site. Additionally, we created new recruitment assets such as social media templates, enhanced job descriptions, brand guidelines, and multiple internal communications tools.