representatives out of their homes and round to their neighbours selling
Avon’s products. They did not call it the Employer Brand back in the
1980s but Avon remain past masters in understanding and enthusing
thousands of people round the world to spend time with their friends
looking at what Avon have to offer.
After 10 years of running the agency it was time for a change. The Charles
Barker Group was starting to build its already substantial HR stance and as
part of the flotation had bought the executive recruiter Norman Broadbent,
then approaching the height of its powers. My job as CEO was to develop
Barker’s HR business. If the Employer Brand concept was going to be taken
seriously it had to impact senior management. I started to see the Human
Resource Directors and, if possible, the CEO/MDs of the most significant
clients. I would establish what they had spent with us in the last year and
then explain that, in the UK in general, they were spending perhaps over
£1m across numerous sites and from different budgets. Given that kind of
money did they not deserve better research, and better coordination and discipline?
It got us noticed and it established bridgeheads with senior clients
through which the head of any agency can help, in the words of Martin
Boase, founder of BMP, ‘to prevent unfairness’. It also helped to get the cause
of better planning noticed, though it would take many years even for the
best to really take this on board.
The employer brand perspective made for a strong point