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New York Police Department (NYPD)

Multimedia Integrated Recruitment Campaign

ASSESS

The New York Police Department (NYPD) needed to increase the quantity of qualified candidates signing up and showing up for the February 2004 Officer's Exam. They also needed to increase the number of diverse candidates to better reflect the demographics of the communities they serve. These recruitment challenges resulted from the long interval between signing up for the test and the actual test date. During this time, as many as 70% of those signing up do not show up to take the exam. Additionally, the intensive screening process and long interval between the test date and the hiring offer (as much as two years) had led to a 1:10 exam-to-hire ratio.

The number of applications had been decreasing to a level below NYPD's current needs. They had reacted to this situation by stepping up recruitment efforts at the front end. This entailed signing up greater numbers to take the exam so that after a high drop off rate, a sufficient number of candidates would remain. Bernard Hodes Group was charged with increasing the number of exam applicants, but more importantly, decreasing the percentage of no-shows. This would increase the final percentage of candidates who would stay to the end of the hiring process.

STRATEGIZE

Our strategy entailed a targeted media campaign designed to maintain the message throughout the test cycle. We would also place a special emphasis on college students in the tri-state area. An assessment of the application process showed an average 3-month waiting time for exams. To decrease the drop off rate, we would develop an online relationship marketing campaign that essentially held the candidate's hand throughout the long hiring process. This would allow us to maintain a relationship with all online applicants to keep their interest. We also proposed updates to the NYPD site for the applicants who took the exam and were waiting for further screening. This password-protected portal would be designed to allow applicants to obtain information and connect to important areas of the official NYPD site. We then defined our target group to include men and women between the age of 17.5 and 35, with a high school diploma and 60 college credits (college credits waived for military experience and honorabledischarge), and without felony or domestic violence convictions. They would also have to be U.S. Citizens, live in New York City, and be available for the Exam in February.

Bernard Hodes Group set out to develop a strategic campaign and new creative concept. During the RFP process to win this contract, an online survey of New York City college students was conducted and we were able to establish some perceptions of the NYPD as a career. We discovered that a major perception was that every department of New York City was laying-off and not hiring. We decided to conduct three more focus groups. The first was with NYPD recruiters for message testing, the second with young adults to validate our concept, and the third to evaluate past NYPD ads, media preferences and leisure time activities of the target group. We also proposed a Police Academy survey to obtain information on the key motivators for joining the NYPD. With this data we prepared a strategic media plan and refined our message. We then created strategies for media, relationship marketing, public relations, interactive communications, retention, and research. Statistics revealed that our target age group consisted of 4,206,600 individuals, and that the distribution of males and females was relatively equal. Our strategy was developed based on these findings and a media mix was focused on attracting both audiences.

First and foremost, the goal with our creative strategy was to dispel the misperception of a hiring freeze (in a politically sensitive manner), while also creating a strong emotional bond between our target audience and the NYPD brand. We created headlines that tapped into the civic pride that is central to the psyche of our ideal candidate, while alluding to the need for a candidate pipeline to fill future hiring needs. We combined headlines that announced “Keeping New York safe tomorrow starts with recruiting more of New York's Finest today” with reportage photography to embody the pride and excitement that only a career with the world's foremost police force could deliver. Our ads reflected the professionalism and excitement of the NYPD!

Since the NYPD administers remote site testing of Military personnel as a recruitment tool, we proposed using the Internet and radio to announce upcoming onsite military exams. Candidates would be directed to the general test application on the NYPD Web site. To reach campuses, we would send posters to colleges in the tri-state area directing students to the NYPD application page or to a remote testing site. Heavy emphasis would be placed on community colleges and senior colleges offering criminal justice programs.

IMPLEMENT

Bernard Hodes Group implemented a multi-media blitz that encompassed 13 media venues and over 20,000 advertisements (during a 5-month period). Media was selected to target our audience based on geographic and demographic characteristics, and included print, transit, outdoor, cinema, aerial, television, cable, and radio. We produced newspaper print ads, a 30-second TV spot, and radio spots for both major stations and diversity markets. But the real splash was made by our outdoor and transit campaign, where our message blanketed New York City's bus sides and shelters, subway entrances, stations and the entire interiors of subway cars. While students were on summer break, aerial banners floated above area beaches; and when they returned to classes in the fall, they found our message on billboards strategically placed along transit routes to their colleges. The comprehensive media coverage with the strong visual branding and art direction combined to create one of the city's most easily recognizable advertising campaigns.

More than half the media used targeted a diverse audience, including African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians; and nearly 13,000 posters were distributed to 120 campuses in the tri-state area. Ads were also strategically placed in Georgia, Virginia and Texas in coordination with the various remote site tests held on military bases, allowing us to reach over 500,000 military personnel.

We then incorporated an Internet strategy to reach our primary target as well as passive job seekers (including law enforcement, military, college, diversity, and general job board sites), and developed a Web site to serve as an information hub for applicants. And our online relationship marketing consisted of semi-weekly e-mails and several direct mail postcards to the applicant audience.

MEASURE

The NYPD received 31,777 applications--the highest number in 6 years! From this pool of candidates, 20,853 reserved a seat for the exam and 12,485 attended. This resulted in a 59.9% attendance rate, a dramatic increase. NYPD's Recruitment and Retention Unit informed us that our campaign resulted in “the highest headcount and attendance rate for any NYPD exam without a filing fee.” The diversity of applicants also reflected the demographic breakdown of the 2000 New York City census.