King Toledo produced a series of authentic employee profile videos to elevate Amgen as a hirer and supporter of the world’s best technologists.
Here’s how we redefined what an employer branding video looks like.
THE SITUATION
As technology continues to transform every industry, companies are competing more than ever for the top technical talent. For years, Silicon Valley has been the preeminent destination for top level developers, digital infrastructure experts, interface designers, and data scientists. Amgen, a global pharmaceutical leader, was committed to elevating its status as a premier destination for candidates with these business critical skills. They invited us in to help support an employer branding initiative to do just that. The project was called “In My Code.”
THE OBJECTIVE
Amgen’s goal was to attract more qualified candidates to their information systems teams using content that celebrated its exceptional diversity, mission-driven work experience and cutting edge technology tools. Our role was to create a video series that connected emotionally with potential job applicants and get them to see themselves at Amgen. The real impact of our work was grounded in these rhetorical questions we asked ourselves:
Could we be the final nudge to a top-level candidate applying?
Could we help someone say no to Silicon Valley and Yes to Amgen?
Could we have some small part in that data scientist joining Amgen and discovering a pattern that helps cure a disease?
THE CHALLENGES
CREATIVE STRATEGY
Diversity, inclusion, and opportunity.
A genuine, world-changing company mission.
Challenging, but rewarding technical work.
The Amgen Employer Brand team, and the Information Systems employees we interviewed, identified those three ideas as the major selling points for a career there. We did just want those ideas to be bullet points - we wanted them to connect on a deep level with the viewer. Our strategy was to let the people that currently work at Amgen Information Systems raise their hand in advocacy and share their stories in such a way that others could see themselves working for Amgen. If you are one of us, there is a spot on the team for you.
As documentary filmmakers by trade, our goal is to capture authenticity from our subjects. We work hard to get to the truth behind each person’s experience and perspective. Finding those authentic moments is key to connecting viewers to subjects and the message. Without that, the messaging falls flat or feels contrived.
With that in mind, we focused our creative strategy on three key elements:
1) Emphasize the core values and benefits of working for Amgen Information Systems, and craft our stories around them.
2) Find the real Amgen employees who embody those values and help make their stories relatable and impactful to an audience of technologists.
3) Create content that authentically captured the experience of working at Amgen - the mission-driven purpose, the collaborative, hi-tech environment, the power they find in diversity - and allow those themes to resonate with viewers.
“...if we want people to see Amgen IT, we want people to see our staff. Their story is our story.”
THE WORK
To ensure we delivered relatable stories that connect with the audience on an emotional level, we leveraged a hybrid production approach. It was a documentary-style that reveals genuine moments, but with the high-gloss finish more typical found in commercial content. That polish - beautiful cinematography, original music, sound design, motion graphics - are a set of tools for signaling the quality of the organization, the importance of the message, and the value Amgen places on its employees.
THE HEROES
The Amgen Employer Brand team and Information Systems leadership wanted to identify the best subjects to feature in the series. They know their organization best, so we worked with them to craft casting criteria in order to find the most ideal candidates.
LIZ
SOPE
ANTHONY
The subjects demonstrated the deep diversity at Amgen, both inside and outside the company. We also sought out people in early, mid, and late career, and balanced how the tech-focused work met the larger patient-focused mission of Amgen.
THE PRODUCTION APPROACH
All great productions have great planning. We were able to do the groundwork - the location scouts, storyboarding, pre-interviews, and detailed scheduling - to ensure success. Further, we have a world-class crew who understood the goals, challenges, and requirements when it comes to filming in a sensitive corporate environment.
That planning helped us identify the detail that we knew we would want to capture in our limited filming windows. The Amgen campuses are gorgeous, open, and state of the art. We knew we would want to have the right equipment to share that perk without having to have it as a heavy-handed talking point.
The result was a production that went smoothly, subjects that were set at ease even in front of a bevy lights, cameras, and crew, and a client that complemented us on our professionalism at every turn.
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
RESULTS
The work has recently launched so the first measurements have not been recorded. However, Amgen let us know right away that the project checked all of the boxes, and more. It was authentic to their message, premium beyond their expectations and a true visual gateway into the Amgen Information Systems experience. In fact, they were so pleased with the series they held a red carpet screening at Amgen HQ and first impressions can be seen below!
“All I can say is, WOW! These look absolutely stunning. The gravity of Liz’s piece comes through beautifully. Can’t thank you enough for delivering visuals that have gone well beyond expectation.”
Want to learn more about King Toledo’s approach to Employer Brand Video? You can read more here, or send us a message. We’re here to help bring your EB stories to life.
Here’s some of our other employer brand and communication content.
