Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Television: Diversity

ASSESS

The FBI has been a Bernard Hodes Group client for 15 years and has seen many changes in its recruiting needs. After 9/11, the FBI became a vital partner in the war on terrorism and new skills became important to that function. The value of highly qualified candidates was stronger than ever. Specifically the FBI had an immediate need to hire hundreds of Intelligence Analysts and Special Agents. The FBI was looking for people in excellent physical condition, with experience in various technical fields and fluency in a number of foreign languages. Candidates also needed to be willing and able to go through rigorous background checks, including drug testing and polygraph examinations.

STRATEGIZE

Candidates with foreign language skills, degrees in Law, IT, Finance, Sciences, and Engineering and diverse backgrounds were needed. TV became one of the mediums of choice for the FBI’s recruitment campaign due to its immediate impact, large audience and ability to create a sense of urgency. TV commercials were then scripted and produced with various needs defined throughout the series of ads.

IMPLEMENT

The FBI’s first airing of this campaign, featuring a Sikh FBI Intelligence Analyst, ran in the Washington, DC Metro area during the pre-game show of the Super Bowl. The ad was shown during the last spot before kick off, reaching an estimated 2 million viewers and emphasized diversity and the fact that the FBI is changing and its mission is expanding. The ad featured the tag line “Today’s FBI—it’s for you!”

MEASURE

The impact of the commercial was felt almost immediately. Within the next week, the hits on the FBIjobs.gov website spiked by 63% and the Intelligence Analyst job recorded over a thousand applications within the next couple of weeks. Other FBI jobs also had increased responses from outside candidates due to the call to action on the TV commercial to visit FBIjobs.gov. Weeks later, the FBI invited over 700 qualified Intelligence Analyst applicants that responded directly after the running of this ad to an invitational interview session in which many were converted to hires.

The FBI was also recognized by the Sikh Council on Religion and Education for this TV commercial, and were presented with the Excellence and Achievement Award at the annual Sikh American Heritage dinner that took place on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Many Congressmen attended and praised the FBI’s effort to seek diverse candidates and for showing that Today’s FBI is for all Americans.