RECRUITMENT FILM: 415 GROUP
415 Group is a leading independent accounting firm in Northeastern Ohio. Based in Canton, with a client base of private, family-owned businesses, the 30-year firm has been extremely successful, so much so that it competes with Big 4 firms in larger markets like Cleveland and Columbus when it comes to recruiting top talent coming out of in-state universities.
415 Group hired ideafarm to create engaging video content that would help win over the best and brightest accounting grads while cementing the loyalty of its existing rising-star employees in a highly competitive market.
ideafarm’s film concept, “A Day in the Life,” was designed to achieve those objectives by following a young, partner-track 415 Group accountant as he moves through his day. Our goal was to create an authentic, appealing story to elicit emotion and stoke a top recruit’s desire to join the firm.
Scripted V.O. narration — no talking heads were used — emphasized camaraderie, work-life balance, and a renewed arts, culture and nightlife scene downtown. The narrative through-line, divided into three sections that take us from morning to night, invisibly sold 415 Group — and, as important, its Canton location — as a great place to live, work and play.
The above clip is from the camaraderie section of the film, capturing the mood and friendship of a group of 415 Group colleagues hanging out at the firm’s annual summer cookout for young (under 30) team members. The full 6-minute film has a short-documentary feel that includes Instagram memories and spur-of-the-moment selfies, striking a nostalgiac tone that connected on an emotional level with recruits and employees alike.
415 Group has made the film central to its recruiting efforts via web, mobile, digital marketing and live events, resulting in the firm regularly securing all of its targeted top prospects vs. the competition — a first for the firm.
