Skyscanner was in the lucky position that “once you make it here, you never want to leave”, with attractive travel perks and a fun working environment. However, it needed to scale the business without increasing headcount. It approached this by looking into what the company offered that no one else could both on a global level and nationally. This involved desk research, gap analysis, senior leadership interviews and additional interviews with recruiters and stakeholders.

This revealed a unique EVP encompassing six pillars: Inspire an industry; Feel wanted; Learn from everyone; Always question to make impact at scale; Be confident and pay it forward; and Teach with respect. To showcase this concept, it came up with The Real Deal campaign that would show the humility, culture of equality and passion of the people at Skyscanner. A launch film included authentic passport headshots and ‘no filter’ photos of local culture, combined with behind the scenes content. Although there was a lot of its blue branding, secondary colours showed the diversity and colourful personality of life at the company. An evergreen content strategy was designed that was purely digital.

Skyscanner and Blackbridge tested and refined three possible concepts for attractiveness, relevance and believability. Seventy percent of the colleague testing group went for the Real Deal brand. Since launch, engagement scores have increased substantially, pride in working for Skyscanner has gone up, and the perception of people living company values has risen in just six months. The highest rated factor in its employee survey was alignment with company goals, with employees reporting clarity on what is needed to succeed.