Case Studies

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), like many organizations, experienced some turbulence as they navigated evolving security needs and public perception. As a crucial part of ensuring safe travel, TSA's work occasionally faced scrutiny, with some travelers expressing concerns over privacy during inspections. However, the dedication of the agency's 45,000 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) remained steadfast. Despite these challenges, internal morale took a dip, and recruiting efforts slowed, prompting TSA leadership to explore new ways to engage both the public and their valued employees.

When TSA leadership called on MarCom Group for help, we were ready to buckle up. We analyzed the situation, and our creative team developed a campaign to address both the public at-large and TSA’s internal audience of TSOs. The “What We Do Matters” campaign was launched with the intent of drawing an empathetic response to TSA’s mission to keep the skies safe for travelers. This campaign works to shift perceptions and attitudes around TSA’s protocol from being inconvenient to travelers to being for the safety and wellness of travelers. Messaging was delivered in and around major airports across the country, featuring evocative headlines and images on digital ads employing geofencing techniques on mobile devices, as well as on posters and billboards.

Mission Accomplished. The campaign resulted in noticeable changes in public sentiment, TSOs on the frontline with their heads held high, and recruitment numbers increasing, all demonstrating success.

Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS) wanted to engage potential applicants in a meaningful way–in a live webinar! Thus we created Aim Hire, a monthly webinar series designed, produced, and hosted by MarCom Group in collaboration with the AFCS Talent Acquisition Team to educate viewers about the many challenging and rewarding career opportunities in federal civilian service with AFCS.

Each live 60-minute episode of the series features a career field or specific job opportunity. AFCS employees and recruiters share their insights through panel discussions, question and answer sessions, and prepared presentations. As AFCS recruiters explain duties, qualifications, and more, we create audience engagement with quick surveys that capture participants’ interests and/or perceptions about the featured topic. Announcing survey results during the live event further stimulates discussion, and recruiters provide application instructions and guide potential applicants to relevant resources.

A prime example of innovative communications initiatives developed by MarCom Group, we created this series in response to a client need; determined the style and format, selected the hosting platform, and, after winning client approval, launched the series. Each month, we develop a content outline and meet with the AFCS panelists to develop a script to keep the episode on topic and on track during the live presentation. We then provide behind-the-scenes technical support to ensure each episode is a quality production and is recorded.

Thirty-two episodes later and still going strong, each episode has been posted in a library on the AFCS website for anyone interested in learning about career opportunities with AFCS.

When three of the U.S. Department of Navy’s acquisition commands–NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command), NAVSEA (Naval Sea Systems Command), and NAVWAR (Naval Information Warfare Systems Command)–decided to pool their resources to create Navy Civilian Careers (NCC), and with it, a more efficient recruitment plan for filling essential civilian positions. To bring this brand to the public, they turned to MarCom Group.

Under a NAVAIR Recruitment and Branding contract held by MarCom Group, a Navy Civilian Careers (NCC) branded recruitment campaign with a distinct visual style and key messaging was developed. Taking inspiration from the new NCC logo, we created people-centric visuals that uniquely depict NCC’s forward-looking mission and their challenging opportunities. Eye-catching visual style and engaging messaging is strategically designed to appeal to their unique audience of professionals in STEM disciplines, young adults ages 18–35, veterans, and diverse and minority groups, and is used in print and digital ads as well as on the NCC website.

Like many federal clients, NCC required a public-facing domain with content that could be updated quickly and could serve as the landing page for advertising and marketing campaign materials, allowing for performance tracking, such as site visits. The page includes content that compels the audience to take further action by learning more about the Department of the Navy’s civilian employee benefits as well as beginning the application process.

In addition to the site, we created a package of recruitment support materials—brochures and flyers used by recruiters at events. We designed and produced new branded event exhibit material, from impressive and imposing 3-D backlit columns with matching kiosks and circular hanging signage to large backdrops, pull-up banners stands, tabletop displays, and assorted materials to animate event spaces large or small in a distinctive and memorable style unlike anyone else participating in the event.

The new visual style and messaging approach have succeeded at differentiating NCC. Response to advertising, outreach initiatives, and events has been encouraging as NCC continues to make an impression with prospective candidates. Further, the campaign received recognition and was cited at the Summit International Awards for its creativity and originality.

Imagine an organization with 170,000 employees, facilities in over 80 locations around the country—not to mention a few overseas—a leadership team of high-ranking officials, and a history that goes back more than half a century, but they have no name. Imagine the problems they have, trying to attract highly qualified candidates to fill important positions vital to the ongoing success of the organization.

Enter MarCom Group. In 2010, in collaboration with this organization’s leaders, we created a name and a brand identity, designed a logo, and developed messaging, and introduced Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS), the civilian component of the U.S. Air Force, to the employment marketplace. Since then, we have supported AFCS’s hiring and retention priorities with strategy recommendations and insights from our Account Services team, our own HR think-tank, and an agile creative team providing innovative solutions that supercharge our advertising and marketing initiatives.

To sustain their exceptional level of support of the U.S. Air Force’s global mission in air, space, and cyberspace, AFCS must hire more than 10,000 civilian employees annually to fill jobs in over 600 career fields, including mission-critical and hard-to-fill positions in STEM disciplines. To that end, MarCom Group provides a broad range of recruitment and marketing services, including:

• Branding Campaigns, Recruitment Initiatives, and Marketing Materials
• Updates and Maintenance for the AFCS Website, including Career Field Profile videos, an interactive Find-a-Job Map, and the ConnexYou job matching subscription service.
• Multi-Channel Media and Outreach
• Internship Program Development and Support
• Program Monitoring and ROI Analysis
• Data & Resume Mining Tools
• Event Planning and Management
• Salesforce CRM Development and Support

What’s the best way to get from Point A to Point B? Use a map, of course! Just as the Air Force is credited with developing the GPS that we all know and love, MarCom Group’s Digital Team developed, implemented, and continues to maintain the innovative interactive Find-A-Job Map featured prominently on the Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS) website.

The application plots the location of all active AFCS job opportunity announcements (JOAs) on an interactive map of the United States. Users can click any location marker and see jobs currently available at that location. Zooming in and out allows for more detailed inspection of the available jobs. Thanks to a daily data feed from USAJOBS and AFCS’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Salesforce, the map is always up-to-date and accurate. The map has filters for more precise delivery of job opportunities per candidate interest, such as “telework” or “part-time.” We’ve also made the map searchable with the occupational series number so job seekers familiar with GS positions can easily locate their positions. This enhancement makes the Find-A-Job Map especially effective for job seekers and appreciated by AFCS recruiters, by allowing candidates to easily identify which positions they are interested in and qualified for.

The visualizations provided by the Find-A-Job Map have proven quite effective, encouraging potential candidates to engage with the AFCS website for longer periods, leading to more applications.

MarCom Group’s in-house Digital team is comprised of seasoned front and back-end developers, designers, and DevOps specialists, expert at providing digital solutions with federal hiring processes, rules, and regulations in mind. From website design and management, including unique features and functions to apps that facilitate our clients’ communications goals, they bring innovative thinking and creative excellence to the table to meet our clients’ communication and recruiting needs and exceed their expectations.

An innovative solution that is proven to enhance the recruitment process is ConnexYou, a proprietary, web-enabled platform that offers MarCom Group’s clients an automated means to build and maintain a pool of engaged and interested talent. Via a link on the client’s website and/or in advertising, the audience is invited to subscribe to the client’s instance of ConnexYou with their email address, desired occupation, and preferred work location. Additional related information (e.g., career and education level) may also be collected, but Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is avoided. Once subscribed to the ConnexYou database, recruiters can use the built-in search feature to identify desirable candidates for specific jobs, and then use another feature to contact them directly.

Meanwhile, the subscriber’s profile is also now available to a secure and private algorithm built on machine-learning principles that matches them to the client’s current Job Opening Announcements (JOAs) posted on USAJOBS, the federal government’s employment site, as well as the client’s own Applicant Tracking System (ATS) of choice. A daily data feed from these platforms is queried by ConnexYou algorithms every night, comparing data sets, matching subscriber preferences—occupation, location, and/or other criteria—to a client’s specific, open JOAs, and triggering the automatic delivery of thousands of emails per week to subscribers that match the latest JOAs. ConnexYou can also be used to deliver special information of interest to potential applicants. Custom job fair announcements with links to an event registration landing page is just one example of ConnexYou recruitment usage.

Since 2012, ConnexYou has proven to be a highly effective tool for advancing the recruitment and hiring process for Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS), helping them to effectively engage with more than 275,000 subscribers to fill thousands of open positions each year. In March of 2024 alone, ConnexYou delivered 2,050,000 emails to interested subscribers. Read more about the AFCS success here.

ConnexYou is available to MarCom Group clients. ConnexYou can provide your organization with a variety of highly useful capabilities and positive outcomes:

• Automated delivery of personalized emails matching candidates with your open JOAs to keep your organization top-of-mind in their career search.
• Building pools of occupation and location-specific candidates and recruiter access for data mining and personalized recruiting.
• Integration on your career website with customized functionality and fully configurable implementation, compliant with section 508, FISMA, and NIST protocols and requirements.
• Using system data to analyze ROI on current or past recruitment activities to inform future planning and budgeting.

Air Force Civilian Force (AFCS) Talent Acquisition works with internal organizations to recruit talent for civilian positions to conduct research, develop initiatives, defend our nation’s digital infrastructure, aircraft, and sensitive electronics, thereby enhancing the performance, safety, and security of our active-duty and reserve service members. AFCS relies on successful in-person and virtual events to connect with qualified candidates and reach their hiring goals for hard-to-fill and mission-critical positions.

Hiring managers with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) had been struggling to make solid connections with potential candidates in virtual settings. MarCom Group’s strategists recommended an in-person event strategy and collaborated with the AFCS Talent Acquisition (AFCS TA) team to develop a format that would provide candidates with comprehensive information about AFCS and hiring managers the opportunity to make connections and even interview and hire qualified candidates.

Against an ambitious annual goal to hire 2,301 new employees, MarCom Group planned, advertised, and executed a series of five hiring events at military bases across the nation, including handling candidate registration and providing on-site management. The effort resulted in the selection of 804 candidates for law enforcement, cybersecurity, and program manager positions, that is, 33% of all hires made across all recruitment initiatives, including marketing, paid advertising, and virtual events (all of which MarCom Group also managed). In fact, the success of the in-person series contributed to the 4,204 selections made in that year, surpassing AFLCMC’s original hiring goal.

Since 2010, MarCom Group has supported AFCS with more than 50 large conferences, 75 small to mid-sized events, 25 specialized hiring events, all in-person, plus dozens of virtual events. Additionally, in support of the Air Force Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), MarCom Group facilitates participation in multiple minority professional conferences, including the Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA), the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE).

In the midst of a worldwide surge in online or “virtual” interaction due to the coronavirus pandemic, from daily business meetings to recruitment webinars and job fairs, the National Recruitment Division (NRD) of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sought a means to host a recruitment event and avoid the tough competition of participating in other federal agencies’ events. MarCom Group was ready for the challenge!

After thoroughly vetting a number of virtual event platforms against NRD’s requirements, we made our recommendation and received enthusiastic approval to commit time and resources to Brazen. CBP’s first ever hosted “Virtual Career Expo” was an overwhelming success, drawing more than 9,000 registrations, more than 4,600 new leads to the CBP talent pool, and drawing more than 3,100 to attend the live event. Recruiters made hundreds of meaningful contacts with prospective candidates, answering questions and providing personal insight for career opportunities across all of their law enforcement components, as well as their mission support programs.

Since that inaugural event, MarCom Group has led the collaboration with NRD in the design, management, and execution of 16 successful events, generating more than 62,500 applications. We are involved in every step of the process, from building booths and live broadcast events with engaging content and visuals that explain CBP’s mission, myriad career opportunities, and the hiring process to writing both internal communications and external advertising to draw interest and participation, not to mention training CBP recruiters to use the Brazen platform and serving as a logistics resource on the day of events. In the end, all of our activity contributes to a unique user experience for CBP recruiters and prospective candidates alike, and with the data from Brazen and survey responses from participants, we are able to enhance each subsequent event.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employs nearly 60,000 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) to staff airport security checkpoints at 435 airports around the country. TSA called on MarCom Group to develop a fast turnaround approach for planning and buying media for individual airport recruitment campaigns on an as needed basis, complicated by unpredictable timing of hiring needs. Faced with a significant challenge, as placement options for each location and inventory availability and pricing can vary dramatically on short notice requests, our Media Team got to work and met the challenge.

In collaboration with TSA, a streamlined media request protocol and an agile planning and buying system was implemented. MarCom Group developed a multi-faceted Omni-Channel plan that usually includes a mix of programmatic digital display banners, print ads, billboards, paid search and social, transit system posters, digital geofencing, TV, OTT, radio, streaming services, programmatic audio and, as well as gas station video, mall posters, movie theater commercials, direct mail postcards, and more. The result: an average of 20 media plans per week (at peak volume) generating an average of 1M+ impressions per week.

Thanks to the skill and knowledge of our Media Team, not to mention the significant resources, market research, and the most trusted buying options available to them, TSA has the support they need, no matter where the market.

Learn how our Media Team and an Omni-Channel strategy can turn your advertising challenges into positive gains.

Creating a strong strategic communications plan is key to the success of every outreach initiative developed under it. A comprehensive Communications Plan (Comms Plan) is key to our clients’ success and is thoughtfully prepared and refreshed annually, detailing strategic and tactical initiatives designed to meet their outreach and recruitment goals.

The Comms Plan describes client challenges and defines their goals, and guides all communications activities, animates message development, establishes timelines, sets budgeting parameters, and informs analysis of results. The plan provides:

• A strategy for integrating branding and communication tactics with workforce planning and recruitment activities.
• Review and analysis of the effectiveness of past initiatives.
• Details new communication recommendations and innovative tactics.
• Parameters for measurement of success and Return on Investment (ROI).

Additional research into market perceptions, new messaging opportunities, new target audiences and/or preferences, and new tactics may be recommended during annual plan updates. MarCom Group Comms Plans typically include:

• A brand SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
• An employment marketplace overview and analysis of the competitive landscape.
• A strategic Omni-Channel media plan with budget recommendations.
• Reviews of advancing technology and tools.

Comms Plans also include a thorough analysis of target audience demographics, psychographics, and other key insights into understanding their perceptions, preferences, concerns, and motivations. The insights gained influence all elements of communication planning, perhaps most importantly, the messaging strategy we recommend for ongoing marketing and outreach initiatives.

Once the finished Comms Plan is approved it becomes the roadmap for preparing creative and supporting marketing materials, future investment, planning, and success. Whether your focus is brand development or recruiting the best and brightest to add to your team, MarCom Group is ready to deliver solutions that drive results.

Faced with the challenge of establishing and maintaining a database of potential job applicants for its multiple professional and wage grade occupational hiring needs, Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS) recruiters turned to MarCom Group for assistance.

The AFCS employment brand and website (both created and maintained by MarCom Group) were proving effective at attracting interest and conveying job information with compelling videos and messaging. AFCS needed a means to store and maintain potential candidates’ contact information and track their job interests for future engagement. After all, a lot of work had gone into collecting lists of prospects at in-person and virtual recruitment events and through advertising and other promotions.

After extensive consultation to identify the full gamut of AFCS career fields and specific occupations and to pin-point locations of job opportunities, we put our technical and creative teams together to develop and design what we referred to as the Recruitment Opportunity Activity (ROA), a web-enabled platform to collect a pool of interested talent to facilitate hiring efficiencies.

Candidates are invited to subscribe on the AFCS website by providing an email address, their current or preferred occupation, and a preferred work location. Additional related information (e.g., career and education level) may also be added to the subscription form, but Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is avoided.

Mining for Candidates: Using machine-learning principles and related technology, recruiters can use the database to search for potential candidates, matching subscribers to open positions based on their occupation and location preferences. Through an easy-to-use interface, recruiters can then contact subscribers by direct email, offering matching job opportunities and a link to the job opening announcement (JOA) on USAJOBS and an opportunity to engage further with the recruiter.

Automated Job Matching: Fueled by a daily API data feed of job announcements from USAJOBS, the system’s algorithm runs every night, comparing data sets, matching subscriber preferences—occupation, location, and/or other criteria—to the latest open JOAs, and triggering the automatic delivery of thousands of emails per week to subscribers with links to open AFCS JOAs. This process is fully automated. Messaging is fully customizable and usable for special announcements such as job fairs, with the possibility of links to event registration forms and more.

Interested in such a system to enhance your organization’s recruitment efforts? Now branded under the name ConnexYou, our system is available to MarCom Group clients. Reach out to us if your organization could benefit from:

• Automated delivery of personalized emails matching candidates with your open JOAs to keep your organization top-of-mind in their career search.
• Building pools of occupation and location-specific candidates and recruiter access for data mining and personalized recruiting.
• Integration on your career website with customized functionality and fully configurable implementation, compliant with section 508, FISMA, and NIST protocols and requirements.
• Using system data to analyze ROI on current or past recruitment activities to inform future planning and budgeting.

MarCom Group developed an innovative solution for improving the recruitment and hiring process by creating a web-enabled platform that builds and maintains a pool of interested talent to facilitate hiring efficiencies. ConnexYou is a unique proprietary system that enables clients to build their own customized and growing talent pool, i.e., database of interested potential candidates. Candidates are invited to subscribe on an organization’s website by providing an email address, their current or preferred occupation, and a preferred work location. Additional related information (e.g., career and education level) and preferences may also be added to the subscription form, but Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is avoided.

Mining for Candidates: Using machine-learning principles and related technology, recruiters can use the database to search for potential candidates, matching subscribers to open positions based on their occupation and location preferences. Through an easy-to-use interface, recruiters can then contact subscribers by direct email, offering matching job opportunities and a link to the job opening announcement (JOA) on USAJOBS and an opportunity to engage further with the recruiter.

Automated Job Matching: Fueled by a daily API data feed of job announcements from USAJOBS, the ConnexYou algorithm runs every night, comparing data sets, matching subscriber preferences—occupation, location, and/or other criteria—to the latest open JOAs, and triggering the automatic delivery of thousands of emails per week to subscribers. This process is fully automated, and emails provide direct links to job applications. Messaging is fully customizable, usable for special announcements such as job fairs, with links to event registration forms and more.

Location Mapping: Another feature of the system plots the location of all open AFCS JOAs on a Find-A-Job map of the United States. Users can select a location on the map and see all the jobs currently available at that location, then access the JOA on USAJOBS with a single click.

ConnexYou has been in use by Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS) since 2012 and has proven to be a highly effective tool for advancing their recruitment and hiring process, helping fill thousands of jobs each year. With nearly 275,000 subscribers in their database, the platform’s automatic email function delivers millions of messages with up-to-the-minute job announcements every month. In March of 2024 alone, ConnexYou delivered 2,050,000 emails to interested prospects, with an open rate of 70% and a click-through rate of over 17%.

A fully branded ConnexYou is available to MarCom Group clients. Reach out to us if your organization could benefit from:

• Automated delivery of personalized emails matching candidates with your open JOAs to keep your organization top-of-mind in their career search.
• Building pools of occupation and location-specific candidates and recruiter access for data mining and personalized recruiting.
• Integration on your career website with customized functionality and fully configurable implementation, compliant with section 508, FISMA, and NIST protocols and requirements.
• Using system data to analyze ROI on current or past recruitment activities to inform future planning and budgeting.