Talent Acquisition (HR and/or Internal Recruitment) could probably gleam a thing or two from a new & engaging (at least to me as a marketing-head) Hertz commercial I watched this morning (see video below). I make that statement because Hertz's new commercial is indicative of a marketing strategy that is not only well thought out, but also extremely well integrated. To take a page from a Marketing Guru I learn from each day, Seth Godin:

"Market-driven design builds the success of the product’s marketing into the product itself."

Think about that for a minute - let it sink in. Now read it again. Marketing isn't just about the hottest and coolest ad campaign or engaging content. It's about more than the 'cool idea' du jour. Sure, cool ideas raise eyebrows . . . and get attention in an environment of more and more 'noise' . . . but why not take some of the budgeted marketing investment and put it into the product itself (meaning while in R&D . . . not just after production is complete, which is what we normally see). That's what Seth means by "Market-Driven Design", and that's exactly what Hertz did - they realized that they could make an investment in a "Green Fleet" based upon primary market research. Sure, they could have taken the same $$$ and instead dumped it into more TV-time, more print ads, more promotions, etc. . . . but they saw a market opportunity and seized on it.

Now ask yourself: Do you see Talent Acquisition or Internal Recruitment building marketing investments into the products (the actual jobs) themselves? Could jobs be better designed? Sure they can. Could we build in VOC ("Voice of the Customer") . . . meaning VOC straight from the A-Players within our Pivotal Talent Pools? Sure we can. Would that make a difference? You better believe it.

The lesson here is that while Talent Acquisition can do the above things, they normally don't. So the next time you're going to have a TA, HR, or Internal Recruitment meeting about Workforce Strategy, invite someone from Marketing to sit in - you just might be surprised. (Or you could invite LG & Associates instead - yes, yes, please forgive me for the shameless plug) ;)

For the Hertz commercial video, please see the original post at: www.lgexec.com

Joshua Letourneau
Mg Director, SSF (Strategic Sourcing Framework) Implementation
LG & Associates Search / Talent Strategy
BLOG: www.lgexec.com