The Challenge

Smyths Toys is the number one toy retailer in Europe having acquired Toys R Us in Germany, Austria and Sweden in 2018. With 200 stores across five countries, it currently employs approximately 5,000 people and boasts an annual turnover of over €650 million for the year ended 31 Dec 2018.

Smyths Toys is a household name, and arguably the most instantly recognisable retailers of toys in Ireland. However, for this campaign we had to go beyond toys. The team wanted to reposition their employer brand to more accurately represent the dynamic commercial organisation that lies behind this toy retail empire.

The Strategy

Our people and purpose work began with people input/ engagement workshops with the retail and head office teams. These workshops were crucial in understanding and unlocking what’s great about working at Smyths Toys, and why someone would choose it over choosing to join another organisation. We identified that Smyths Toys have a very unique culture of ambition and ownership. These attributes are critical for both existing and new hires to have when joining the organisation and to be successful over the longer-term at Smyths Toys.

Recruitment Marketing

Smyths Toys provides exciting opportunities for smart, driven, commercially-minded individuals who thrive on challenge, on taking accountability and on truly ‘owning’ for their work, their stores and their careers. This idea drove our overall recruitment marketing #YouOwnIt.

Activations

We brought this to life through photography, employee stories, website, onboarding collateral, social media shareables and recruitment adverts.