Technicians wanted: “A gaming campaign did what traditional media couldn't”

What do you do when you can’t reach a specific profile with your current recruitment campaigns? Throw more media budget at it? Or change your approach? Engie chose the latter in their search for technicians. Together with Campaign Project Leader Steven Verlinde, we discuss whether gaming marketing can also be relevant for your recruitment campaigns. And how to get started.

“We were looking for technicians all over Belgium,” Steven begins. “But in some regions, that search was almost impossible. Our standard approach wasn’t resonating. Traditional channels like Facebook and TikTok didn’t deliver any applicants.”

The target audience: technicians wanted!

“That’s why we decided to take another close look at our target audience. They were almost exclusively young men, between 25 and 40 years old. Then you research what moves that target group. Two interests kept surfacing: cars and gaming. (laughs) I know: very stereotypical. But it is true.”

“In the past, we had already experimented a bit with gaming. But on a smaller scale. Applying the principles of gamification, for example. Or games on our website where you could control a wind turbine.”

“This was to be our very first major gaming campaign.”

The recruitment campaign itself

“We created ads with in-game visuals: images from the most popular games among our target audience. For the copy, we also tapped into specific gaming vocabulary.”

Engie distributed those ads via Twitch, among other channels.

Twitch is a streaming platform where gamers broadcast their gaming sessions live. The YouTube of gaming, so to speak. With the difference that the live aspect and the interaction between content creators and their community are much more important. YouTube is passive viewing; Twitch is joining the conversation.

Another key difference from YouTube: Twitch is especially popular with Gen Z and Millennials. Right in the bullseye of this recruitment campaign.

Technicians wanted and found

Engie’s first gaming recruitment campaign was a success. And there are three specific reasons for this.

1. Target audience: check

Recruitment campaigns start with your target audience. The golden rule: show up where your candidates are. And for men between 25 and 40, that’s gaming.

Some figures to back that up:

• The average age of a Belgian gamer is 31.
• 1 in 3 Belgians aged 25–34 plays on a computer or console monthly. On smartphones, that’s 1 in 2.
• For ages 35–44, it’s 1 in 5 on console/PC. On smartphones, nearly 1 in 2.
• 9% of people in Flanders watch video streams on Twitch.

Important note: these are averages. From experience, we know those numbers are even higher when looking specifically at men. Additionally, we see a greater affinity for gaming among technical and IT profiles such as engineers, developers, and indeed: technicians.

2. Engagement: check

“Gaming is incredibly engaging,” says Steven. “As marketers, we always talk about engagement. Well, you can buy views, but you can’t buy engagement. And this is exactly where we see gaming campaigns scoring much better.”

Your vacancies aren’t just seen; they are actually clicked on.

3. The etiquette: check

“The feedback we received from applicants was that the ads showed respect for their favorite game. That was very important to me because in-game advertising is a sensitive matter. Precisely because a person’s involvement with their game is higher than their involvement with, say, a TikTok or Instagram. That’s why you should hire an agency with expertise—a party that understands the rules of the game.”

Level 2

“The results were eventually so good that we made a second version. And that one resonated very well too. Since then, gaming marketing has gradually become a permanent part of our recruitment,” Steven concludes.

“The numbers are there. The cases are there,” Steven concludes. “And yet, many companies still ignore gaming.”

That means more opportunities for you to reach those hard-to-reach audiences after all…

Ready for level 1?

Curious if gaming marketing can be an addition to your recruitment campaigns? And how that translates into a concrete approach for your employer brand? Get in touch.