Harter Secrest & Emery
Creative Development
CHALLENGE
Harter Secrest & Emery faced a dilemma. Despite offering an attractive opportunity centered around a supportive, stimulating work environment and a healthy career/life balance, the mid-size law firm from Western New York couldn’t find qualified candidates for their Securities Law and Capital Markets division, a highly specialized field.
Pushing their recruitment efforts forward, we took HSE and their audience back — way back — in time.
SOLUTION
To stop LinkedIn scrollers in their tracks we knew we had to develop a visually arresting campaign, something unlike anything else coming through the feed.
Our inspiration came from the captivating picture our client had painted about the competition, colloquially called Big Law — huge, impersonal firms that impose a “kill what you eat” philosophy — where young attorneys are more likely to find themselves on the menu than at the table.
The terrifying stories made it clear: Big Law is the ultimate survival test, the Serengeti on steroids — a level of predation befitting of the original carnivorous king: T-Rex.
Aha! That’s it. Dinosaurs as a metaphor for Big Law. A wild workplace populated by ravenous raptors, snapping serpents, and plodding giants. Home to a diverse group of dangerous species, like the dreaded backstabosaurus and insufferable isolatopod.
For additional dramatic effect, we utilized 2.5-D motion for the images and included ambient sound to transport potential candidates to a prehistoric time and place. The integrated campaign also employed razor-sharp lines that resonated with disenchanted lawyers stuck in this toxic environment.
Fleshing out the concept, we coined a new branch of science: Paleonlawlogy, the study of Big Law species from the Gigantaceous Period. A digital poster and animated gif that expanded on the subject welcomed interested candidates directed from LinkedIn to the HSE website. These entertaining features demonstrated that HSE understands where these attorneys currently work and why they should seek a change in scenery and fortunes. The call to action puts it succinctly: Evolve with us.
