TriNet - Corporate Reputation/Professional Services Campaign of the Year

Company: TriNet, Dublin, CA
Company Description: TriNet is a professional employer organization that provides small and medium size businesses (SMBs) with full-service HR solutions tailored by industry. TriNet offers access to human capital expertise, benefits, risk mitigation and compliance, payroll and real-time technology. From Main Street to Wall Street, TriNet empowers SMBs to focus on what matters most—growing their business.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Industry
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Campaign of the Year - Corporate Reputation/Professional Services

Nomination Title: TriNet—PEOPLE MATTER: Humanity

Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched: TheHumanitycampaign launched August 31, 2020

TriNet is a full-service HR solutions provider with a mission to power business success through incredible HR. We rally around a shared vision of improving humanity through business growth and innovation. TriNet’s Humanity campaign was an extension of the company’s People Matter campaign celebrating the hard work and diversity of TriNet’s 17,500 customers* through the work of world-renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz.

The Humanity campaign was developed to boost brand awareness, but the timing occurred while American business owners were facing exceptionally dark days, during which HR solutions—although critical to business survival—may not have been top of mind. The goal of the campaign was to make customers and potential customers aware of our capabilities—which could be helpful in navigating the unique demands of the pandemic—through humor, familiar characters and common-yet-comical scenarios. Our objective was to break through the clutter with humor and levity while effectively communicating the importance of the product and services we deliver.

The campaign aimed to avoid any of the anxiety-inducing, overused reminders of the difficulties businesses were facing while still addressing these issues in a positive way, even including a spot that dealt with the confusion of applying for a PPP loan.

*As of 12/31/20

The nationwide Humanity campaign featured out-of-home (OOH) ads in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, television commercials and radio spots across the country and a major digital push that includes website, digital ads and social media. TriNet developed an approach to the messaging for each channel so that messages would complement each other and directly address their respective audiences.

For the TV and radio spots, we created a company with a relatable team of employees across a range of job titles—each with a unique personality. We added diversity by casting SAG actors in such a way that we didn’t assign age, gender or ethnicity to the characters and made casting decisions based on who read the roles best. Within this creative structure, we placed them in varying real-life scenarios, from in-office to remote work, where they would address the same problems other businesses typically face.

TriNet’s OOH was strategically designed to convey similar recognizable business challenges in a whimsical, attention grabbing way: simple, bold statements with lots of color that played on the themes from our TV spots—that we are here to help during these challenging times. The ads were customized by region to add local flavor and make them more relatable. The primary objective of the Humanity campaign was to increase unaided awareness and establish greater context for the TriNet brand. We also focused on growing our share of voice and positive media sentiment.

Our integrated, omnichannel campaign generated 579 million impressions in 2020. We created strong brand awareness, familiarity and engagement through placements on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC, ESPN, ABC, NBC, Bloomberg, the Pivot podcast, The New York Times and social media including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Google and YouTube, which saw a 200% increase in lead generation. We consistently outperformed industry norms in digital and social and we saw a 62% increase in clicks and a 16% increase in impressions.