Redefining Journeys at CarMax

CarMax has been named one of FORTUNE Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, 16 years running, and has a compelling employment offer to share with potential candidates. They’re revolutionizing the used car industry by embracing innovation, using cutting edge technology, and providing customers with the honest, straightforward experience they deserve.
As a rapidly growing business, CarMax approached us to help them attract the right candidates for roles across Sales, Service, Technology, and more. The company’s continued success relied on hiring people who could contribute to its unique culture and help CarMax continue to redefine the industry.
The first step was to undertake senior leadership interviews and employee workshops from locations across the country to establish the story we should be telling. We needed to hear from employees across CarMax’s varied role types to develop a program that would appeal to the different audiences who might be compelled to choose a career there. We also designed and facilitated an external audience perception survey and developed a set of targeted audience personas to ensure that we were telling that story in the right way, to the right people.
Based on these strategic insights, we developed a compelling employer value proposition (EVP) that defines the reasons why the right people should join CarMax and stay. We created an employer brand messaging framework to underpin this, as well as an impactful creative concept, Redefining Journeys, to bring this narrative to life in a range of ways.
This creative concept encapsulates the idea that CarMax has redefined journeys – not only for customers by reimagining the used car buying experience, but also for their Associates’ careers. Redefining Journeys is a flexible creative device; it can explore the Associate’s journey that may be taken to reach CarMax, their career journey within the business, or the journey they take with their customers every day to make an impact.
This integrated campaign was brought to market locally and on a national scale, with activations including a careers site revamp, an employer brand manifesto film, out-of-home advertising, digital advertising, and much more.