2023 Gold Launch

Agency: Smithfield Agency and IPA

Client: Hospitality Rising

Entry Title: Rise Fast, Work Young

Executive Summary

Staff shortages across the hospitality industry had reached crisis point. Hospitality Rising wanted to coordinate a collective effort to showcase the opportunities for Gen Z working in the hospitality industry—by asking all hospitality operators to pledge their support.

Strategy

Hospitality Rising wanted working in hospitality to be seen as the career choice for the younger generation. It’s exciting and fast paced with excellent growth opportunities.

The campaign would target non-rejecters - those who had not already committed to a vocational career—choosing between a job in hospitality and other entry-level jobs. Young or old, these were people who needed excitement. Shelf-stacking or office life didn’t cut it.

The strategy was to position hospitality as the ultimate non-boring career by generating awareness, subtly attacking the competition as being boring, and highlighting the progression of hospitality as a career.

Starting with a soft launch that relied mainly on a visual identity, the digitally led campaign resonated with the target audience, partnering with an industry-leading Gen Z TikTok-first agency to reach the right demographic.

Creativity

The visual identity needed to be strong and remarkable, to stand out and deliver values like pride and attitude. The visuals had to be bold, punchy and most of all, they had to feel young. The aim was for the campaign to look like a cover magazine as opposed to an ad campaign.

The research and insights, underpinned by the message that you can’t go further faster in any other industry, saw the campaign come to fruition: ‘Rise Fast, Work Young’. A series of character animations were created to showcase the diverse workforce and roles that exist in hospitality.

The TikTok campaign included content created by real hospitality workers within the demographic. Meanwhile, targeting celebrity buy-in—further boosting the campaign’s appeal factor to potential applicants—Hospitality Rising managed to secure the support of a number of big-name chefs to get behind the campaign, including Tom Kerridge.

Results

The campaign prompted 130k job applications to the careers website and reached 50% of all 16 to 30s.

The scale of the collaborative effort is unique, giving it the potential to be a real game-changer in addressing a major industry challenge. There were more than 13.5 million impressions on TikTok and 67 million digital impressions.

The initiative secured significant investor buy-in, with more than 300 operators now signed up, and over 64k job listings from leading industry bodies such as UK Hospitality, Parkdean Resorts, Prezzo, Pret A Manger, Whitbread, Soho House, and Hilton alongside smaller, independent venues.

The Team

Smithfield Agency - Garett Farell, Business Director - Adam Shoefield, Founder - Despina Argyrides, Account Director - Sean Heneghan, Senior Digital Performance Manager - Rebecca Botterill, Digital Account Manager - Michael Davis, Senior Digital Manager

Hospitality Rising - Mark McCulloch, Founder - Lesley Mcilroy, Marketing Specialist