GKN Aerospace’s Employer Brand
CASE STUDY
Dawson Walker partnered with GKN Aerospace, the largest tier 1 aerospace supplier, to uncover their employer brand and discover what makes them an employer of choice.
The GKN Aerospace Leadership team identified “Talent” as a key business priority for the company’s future success but to also support their mission; “to be the most trusted and sustainable partner in the sky”.
See how Dawson Walker successfully changed the conversation with key stakeholders internally, increased visibility externally and drove key business objectives within GKN Aerospace.
The Challenge:
GKN Aerospace (GKNA) is a global Tier 1 aerospace supplier making parts for many of the aircraft flying today. With over 15,000 people working across 39 facilities & offices in 12 countries GKN Aerospace is primarily a B2B brand – partnering and supplying companies such as Airbus, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and GE. Their mission is “to be the most trusted and sustainable partner in the sky.”
The team at GKNA and Dawson Walker identified these key challenges which the employer brand would need to address:
- Low visibility of GKN Aerospace brand externally.
- Skills shortages, ageing workforce and flight shame.
- Record levels of employment (despite economy).
- Rapid bounce back of Aerospace industry post COVID.
- Investment and growth plans.
- Fierce competition
- Lack of knowledge of what goes on in GKN Aerospace workshops.
- Low visibility internally & externally of the sustainable vision for the future.
This was to be the first time that anyone had looked at the GKN Aerospace Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
Dawson Walker developed a strategy that was educative, consultative and inclusive.
The Solution:
Using the Dawson Walker tried and tested framework, the team first embarked on an extensive research programme, which included interviews, focus groups, desk research, competitor review and surveys.
The extensive research enabled the Dawson Walker analysis team to develop six core themes.
After carefully reviewing of all the findings and the themes that emerged from the research and analysis phases we distilled it into three memorable employer brand pillars. PEOPLE, PLANET, PROGRESS. These uphold the core employer brand message “TOGETHER, WE RISE”.
The strategy was to develop a consistent design and employer brand tone of voice that could be applied to each pillar and each business area (Civil, Defence and Engines) in a different way.
The Employer brand development
The Dawson Walker creative team developed a range of key visuals and copy treatments, as well as brand guidelines and useful tools. Consistent design features such as the use of the diagonal slice, TOGETHER WE RISE ident and layout structure ensure consistency and diversity as well as inspiration for an endless creation of new iterations into the future.
The Dawson Walker team worked closely with DAM platform Papirfly, developing templates and ready-made artworks covering a range of recruitment marketing materials (and in 8 languages).
To develop content The Dawson Walker film and photography team along with key partners went on a film and photo shoot in The Netherlands, Sweden, UK and across 4 locations in USA.
The Result:
Internal Launch
The internal launch of the Employer Brand began with the leadership community at their annual “Connect Conference”.
The Employer Branding the Dawson Walker team created “TOGETHER, WE RISE” became the most talked about subject – mentioned by the CEO, David Paja in his opening speech and then revealed in full by the TA team.
Their narrative was accompanied by an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) film that describes what is required from the Leadership community to bring it to life.
Internal briefings
The Dawson Walker strategy team ran 2hr participative workshops across different time zones with TA, Recruiters and Comms teams, site leaders and ambassadors – sharing tools and materials as well as briefing individuals on their roles in activating the “Great Place to Work” initiative.
Weekly “surgeries” maintained an open line of communication to answer queries. Surveys at the end of workshops revealed an exponential increase in understanding and confidence in using the EVP.
External launch
The external launch focused on three core channels
- A completely restructured and simplified careers site
- A paid and organic social media campaign
- Tools (LinkedIn banners, email signatures, event collateral etc.) for recruiters, TA and Comms teams.
Social media results
Over the period of six weeks the overall results of the paid for social media campaign across LinkedIn and Instagram were as follow:
- Impressions: 8,842,514
- Reach: 5,794,706
- Video views: 1,045,429
- Engagement: 235,278
Other GKN Aerospace work
Discover how Dawson Walker raised the profile of GKN Aerospace's employer brand in the Netherlands and attracted new hires to the sustainable aerospace village they are developing. Hiring over 1000 new people to one location is no easy feat. Dawson Walker strategically and creatively helped GKN Aerospace increase their job application by 37.5% in less than 4 months.
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