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Case in Point

MWV sought a communications partner to work in conjunction with its brand agency, Interbrand, to rejuvenate its recruitment program. The challenge was to attract top talent to a traditionally "uncool" industry. MWV reviewed six agencies and awarded West Cary Group (WCG) the assignment.

Client Company Info

MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV) provides packaging solutions to many of the world's most admired brands in the health care, beauty and personal care, food, beverage, media and entertainment, home and garden, tobacco, and commercial print industries. The company's businesses also include Consumer & Office Products, Specialty Chemicals, and the Community Development and Land Management Group, which sustainably manages the company's land holdings to support its operations and provide for conservation, recreation and development opportunities. With 20,000 employees worldwide, MWV operates in 30 countries and serves customers in more than 100 nations. MWV manages all of its forestlands in accordance with internationally recognized forest certification standards and has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the sixth consecutive year.

Challenge

WCG's goal was to lay out a progressive marketing communications strategy that would combine traditional media with modern communications channels like rich media-infused web redesign, technological widgets and social media. To do so, WCG needed to identify key outcomes as desired by the MWV HR Team, as well as its recruitment target profile—students and experienced engineers.

Requests included:

• Reinforce the MWV brand
• Express MWV's personality
• Position culture as collaborative, can-do, reliable and connected
• Assert that MWV values diversity

Solution

WCG conducted primary research with the recruitment team, target recruits and senior MWV leaders to understand what the client needed and what recruits cared about. We then crafted value proposition statements for each target to identify the promise MWV held for each group and how the company would fulfill on it.

WCG created and designed an "experience map" for MWV that detailed the experience recruitment prospects should experience from initial contact through hire. Then WCG designed a channel strategy that assessed the attributes of each available channel and leveraged each to communicate to the two target groups. A product was delivered that included:

• A new one-stop website, backed by search engine optimization, to serve as the landing point for inquiries as well as MWV recruitment advertising
• Two print advertising campaigns for experienced hires—both engineering and general
• Brochures and reference books that showcased MWV's wide geographic footprint
• A physical exhibit for MWV recruiters to use on college campuses to recruit top-notch talent

Outcome

WCG monitored the results of its efforts by managing MWV's analytics engine for its website and tracking the company's site traffic and recruitment traffic for the first time. The campaign increased the résumé submissions of qualified candidates by 25%. The client loved that the communications solution successfully incorporated the brand standards and afterward expanded its engagement with WCG to other business units.

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