Roku is the #1 TV streaming platform by hours streamed in the US, Canada, and Mexico and they’re on a mission to revolutionise the way the world watches TV. In 2022 they opened a new tech centre, right in the heart of Manchester – the UK’s official Top Digital Tech City. With low brand awareness and no marketing budget to leverage, they needed to hire 50+ Software Engineers in one of the UK’s most competitive markets for tech talent.
Roku is the #1 TV streaming platform by hours streamed in the US, Canada, and Mexico and they’re on a mission to revolutionise the way the world watches TV. In 2022 they opened a new tech centre, right in the heart of Manchester – the UK’s official Top Digital Tech City. With low brand awareness and no marketing budget to leverage, they needed to hire 50+ Software Engineers in one of the UK’s most competitive markets for tech talent.
Attract Software Engineers with eight plus years of experience, to a new Tech Centre in the heart of Manchester. Create a strong proposition (EVP) that will cut through in an already crowded space. Show empathy and understanding with Manchester’s vibe and its history of innovation and build awareness and the profile of Roku as an employer in Manchester to a range of target audiences (candidates, customers, networks and partnerships).
Through insight derived from focus groups, interviews with leaders, desk research and market testing, we developed a messaging framework that gave birth to ‘Live life in the fast stream.’ This was an invitation to Software Engineers to join Roku and thrive in a fast-moving, free-thinking environment. A place where they can impact and influence the way the world watches TV.
Through a series of creative sprints, we brought the sentiment of the proposition to life. How? By reflecting life as a Software Engineer at Roku, with a career supercharged by the pace of Roku’s growth in an environment that’s constantly evolving – and where no two days are ever the same.
We brought in a clear product reference and created a sense of the buzz and excitement – directly targeting the ambitious as well as the restless – by using wordplay to add some personality.
We designed and built a website that acted as a platform to bring ‘Live life in the fast steam’ to life and allowed candidates to discover more about Roku in Manchester – offering an easy route to apply.
Through film and animation, we created a dedicated ‘Ode to Manchester’ – reflecting and recognising the history, innovation and spirit of Manchester – and showing that Roku were in Manchester for the right reasons. Dedicated photography brought relevance and authenticity to the story.
To activate, we planned a phased launch to raise both brand awareness and build a hire ready talent pipeline for all open tech roles targeted mainly on the Software Engineering population across the North-West.
This was supported by targeted programmatic and social campaigns that built on the core campaign themes as well as a digital ‘outdoor’ campaign across the key commuter hubs in Greater Manchester.
Powerful, personalised content delivered to over 25% of the Software population in the North-West. Over 2.5 million impressions, 7,000+ clicks, 77 conversions and a significant uplift in both brand awareness and followers. A brilliant base upon which to develop phase 2 of the campaign.
Using the ‘Live life in the fast stream’ campaign, we developed a Recruiter ‘Playbook,’ designed and delivered training to enable Recruiters to be able to market Roku as an employer and bring the brand to life with engaging content across social and digital platforms.
