Hawaii Five O deserves an award for some of the most narrative-integrated, yet hit-you-over-the-head obvious, product placement advertising on TV this side of infomercials. Here are five things I’ve learned that can be applied to recruitment marketing since the series began:

1. Make your core brand identity clear and highlight it often.

Five O is an action-driven police procedural, and the  regular car chases, as well as the show’s trademark McGarrett/Danno car-guements provide ample opportunity to highlight the show’s sponsorship dollars from GM. Everyone (good guys at least) drives a Chevy. It doesn’t matter how brutal the car chase or how rugged and dirty the terrain, the show’s ubiquitous 2010 Chevrolet Camaro 2LT Coupe (and co-starring Traverse and Cruze) are spotless, waxed and buffed and ready for their close-up. It’s like an extended weekly version of the BMW ‘driver’ mini-films that brought Clive Owen his first real exposure in the US. Only with Chevys. And without the A-list movie stars and directors. Otherwise – just like it.

Can you spot the real star of this scene?

The Chevy ‘bowtie’ emblem probably gets as much screen time as the lead actors on the show – similarly you should make sure your brand identity is in front of your prospect audience frequently so that your name is synonymous with career opportunities – just like Chevy Camaro is synonymous with Five O-style pulse pounding, adrenaline rush action.

2. Show employees engaging with each other to show your culture.

A few episodes into season one some Five O members revealed that they are a tech-savvy group and firmly in the Microsoft camp. In episode 8, Daniel Dae Kim tells co-star Grace Park to look up a piece of art on her smartphone – a totally believable ‘real life’ activity – unfortunately ruined by some off-tone, branding. Dae Kim doesn’t just tell Park to look something up, he tells her: “You don’t believe me? Bing it!”

Microsoft must have been hoping that they could somehow use pop culture to raise ‘Bing’ to the status of ‘Google’ as a synonym for looking something up on the internet. Google didn’t try to make that happen – it just happened and you can’t force it. That Grace Park then uses a Windows 7 phone to ‘Bing It’ didn’t help – it was like salt in the wound.

Prospects want to know what they can expect as an employee – an environment where everyone take mobile technology for granted (like the Five O crew), or are you a suit and tie environment or t-shirt and flip-flops? Does your culture run on after-hours, Starbucks fueled, team collaborations or relaxed morning meetings? How do your employees interact? Most of all, are you authentic or do you come across as stilted and awkward as asking someone to ‘Bing it’?

3. Teach your prospects something new / give them something of value.

As the last example shows, the bad ass, tech oriented, name-dropping members of the Five O prefer Microsoft technology (and web platforms). But the Microsoft product placement didn’t end with attempts to create a new catch phrase – they want to introduce you to technology and teach you how to use it. First, the introduction: The Windows 7 phone was everywhere in the show. Cast members were regularly using their Windows phones with incredibly distinct close-ups showing the smart phone in use – like a video training manual. You couldn’t escape the Windows phone during commercial breaks, either. Just in case you didn’t notice it in the show, a Windows phone ad was placed in just about every commercial block.

The ultimate Windows product placement moment however came from another Daniel Dae Kim/Grace Park moment (it appears that auto product placement is primarily handled by  Alex O’Loughlin (McGarrett) and Scott Caan (Danno) while tech product placements go to Dae Kim and Park).Once you begin to get the idea that Microsoft has a smartphone for sale, the Five O techies kick it up a notch: Daniel Dae Kim actually takes time from a crime investigation to teach Grace Park how to check her email on her Windows phone. You get step by step instructions along with close-ups on the phone’s screen showing you just how quick and easy it is to check your email on the Windows 7 phone. I get it – skillful product placement involves integrating the product into the show. Thanks Five O crime-fighters, I’m headed to the store right now that my fear of complicated technology has been resolved! (If anyone knows where I can find this video clip so I can add it to this post, please let me know)

Just Sit Back and Watch As Hollywood Stars Teach You How to Use Your Smartphone!

While it’s easy to make fun of the ham-handed email lesson, the Hawaii Five O marketers are onto something: you want to educate your audience. Microsoft wanted to demonstrate easy-to-use technology. You might want to use case studies, white papers, blog posts or short videos to show your accomplishments or highlight tools or resources that they would find useful.

4. Show your work environment.

Hawaii Five O’s product placement even goes beyond traditional ‘products’ – the producers recognize that location is a huge part of the shows’ appeal. Their local-friendly filming schedule clearly incorporates real local destinations and businesses as part of their tropical travel guide vibe – including an appearance by chef Masaharu Morimoto and his destination restaurant in Waikiki. The inclusion of real-life locations and personalities does more than localize the product placement vibe on Hawaii Five O – it roots the show in the real world. As this video clip shows, there is even be the opportunity to show another side of Morimoto Waikiki: we get to see the restaurant’s location, the kitchen and dining room, prep cooks and chefs at work, the fresh seafood, and even Chef Morimoto performing karaoke. All we need for a full-fledged recruitment video is pull one or two waiters aside and ask them about their benefits and what they like most about working for Morimoto Waikiki.

Chef Morimoto and the kitchen crew dealing with a tricky workman's comp situation.

5. Don’t go overboard.

Recently the show featured a product placement scene so over the top that The New York Times described the sequence as “jarring, disruptive and insulting.”  The action stops completely for this 50-second long in-show commercial, in which the show’s overweight shrimp food truck owner (played by amateur  sumo wrestler Taylor Wily) waxes poetic about losing weight by eating Subway sandwiches amid an array of prominent logos: “The best thing about it,  they make it anyway you want it…It’s some serious culinary fusion.” This doesn’t even qualify as humorous – it’s just cringe-inducing dialogue designed to promote Subway. Even the actors look embarrassed to be taking part in the scene. The take-away: promote your brand authentically and don’t force the message where it doesn’t belong.

 (All images and video are (C) CBS Broadcasting Inc. All RightsReserved. and used for editorial purposes only)

 The multimillion-pound TV ad campaign will look familiar to anyone who’s seen a few of the Bing ads shown in the US.

 It’s been nine months since Bing’s launch and according to comScore’s measurements the search engine IS gaining market share. However that is mostly at the expense of Yahoo not Google. This is good for Bing since it’s growing (albeit usually in percentage points that look like 0.2% gain), but bad since it’s not really hurting Google in any meaningful way.

 With all the recent press around Google and privacy policies and issues, there may be some room for Bing to make further gains if they play their cards right. Maybe they should replace ‘search overload’ with a more direct “It’s 10PM does your search engine know what you’re doing?” campaign.

 Anyways, here’s one of the new commercials rolling out in the UK this week — they get points for the most creative use of “Euston station” — oh, who am I kidding, the ONLY creative use of “Euston station.”

 Your thoughts on the Bing/Google search battle and the now international search overload campaign are appreciated.

The other day I received a call from an associate engaged in recruitment video marketing. He had just read my recent post “Do You Have The Best Job In The World?” and we got to talking about the power of video to reveal culture, work experience, and how it can help job seekers self select whether they are appropriate for employment in an organization or a particular career. Our discussion reminded me of a video I stumbled across some time ago which I’d like to share with you. You may have seen it before (it’s about two years old), but it’s certainly worth another view.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times. IMHO our aim should be to make people salivate with desire to work someplace. Create desire…point at opportunity. Make your pipeline a throng of people wanting behind the red velvet rope. Now I’ve said it one hundred and one times.

Of course if you can make your message social media friendly and viral too…well, all the better.

If you’re bored of recruitment videos that remind you of a PSA spot on ‘local cable,’ or something out of a show on The Learning Channel or Discovery, I have an example of the recruitment video cure. Let’s make something clear: the difference between what this video HAS and DOES NOT HAVE is not an issue of who wrote and produced the video; rather, it’s a result of what the company was willing to reveal about itself. The company had to “get out of its own way” and allow a shift in communication from corporate mission to authentic revelation. The two are not mutually exclusive. One is just less formal than the other.

This video has no:

1) Talking Heads
2) Description of Work
3) Voice Overs
4) Company Stats

In other words, none of the ubiquitous hallmarks that make you feel like you are being sold or lectured to.

Check it out now: http://ow.ly/i1Yy

What it does have:

1) A great soundtrack
2) Work Environment – and a fun one at that, complete with a ping-pong table – you get to travel the office through the song
3) Co-workers who aren’t afraid to be silly or have fun
4) Good production value…no shaky camera or bad lighting
5) Sly pop-culture (like the SILF t-shirt)
6) FUN
7) Just when you feel like you’re watching a music video, the sound shuts off and you get the employees singing and the aftermath of the shoot. They are real and you get to see them that way A link to an annotated Flikr photo of the people in the video, with each person identified

The company is Connected Ventures. They run Busted Tees and College Humor (hence the very Gen Y staff). The video was shot in one take. ONE. The first take, even.

The bad thing…their careers page is ONE PAGE linked to brief, underdeveloped job descriptions. Also, there is no sign of this video…or testimonials…or photos (through Flikr which would be awesome with this audience)…or example projects…etc. Oh and the link on their video goes to a 404 File Not Found message — the result of an orphaned social media campaign. This is something for us to keep in mind for any social media/bookmarking campaign. Just because an initiative is over doesn’t mean links (or potential link juice) go away. A branded 404 “Page Not Found” would be useful here to say the least, even if it isn’t specifically recruitment focused.

Why does this video work? I’ll steal a line from Jeffrey Gitomer: People hate to be sold to but they love to buy. And this video gives the passive (and active) candidate something to BUY. They can buy the workplace (some wide-open, sunlit places complete with a ping pong table), they can buy the casual (t-shirt friendly) dress code, the can buy an employer who is willing to have fun on video and and employees who aren’t afraid to get on camera and act silly. Without telling you anything specifically, the video tells you a lot about Connected Ventures.

Not every place is a Connected Ventures…many are the exact opposite. But if you can open up to DISCOVER and REVEAL even just ONE powerful Employment Value Proposition which is vibrant, realistic and RESONATES with your ideal candidate, you can use it, share it and benefit from it.

There is a lot of talk about corporate transparency and corporate ethics and responsibility. Transparency can also be used to attract and communicate, but you might have to loosen your tie a little bit and let your workforce, your environment, your inner voice speak up and say the things that can not be expressed in a brochure and corporate mission statement. Give that a try and you might be amazed at how job seekers (both active and passive alike) respond, they might even say:

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