28 May 2020

Hiring during lockdown

On March 11 we packed up our desks as we prepared to work remotely, not knowing when we’d return to the studio. Even with a well established flexible working policy there was a learning curve in terms of figuring out how to focus at home, conduct our daily standups, and run client workshops, but one of the most challenging new experiences we’ve had to adapt to was hiring fully remotely.

Our clients have kept their foot on the gas, they understand that now is not the time to reduce spend on the way they are perceived online, with the whole world now operating digitally in the new normal. So with more work rolling in, we needed to add new talent to Catch.

A month into lockdown Catch welcomed new team members across both our Creative and Client Services teams.

So what have we learned from the process? We spoke with our hiring teams to collect the below recommendations for remote hiring and onboarding.

The interview process

“At this point you may be used to having video calls and are more comfortable with this format than candidates are. Understanding and acknowledging this at the beginning of the call will help break the ice and help make everything run smoother”

Becca Bendelow, Delivery Lead

Ask candidates to prepare a presentation of answers to general questions about themselves and their work experience. This is a great conversation starter and allows them to take the lead of the interview so it doesn’t feel so one sided. It also helps you understand how they present their thoughts and would potentially communicate with a client.

The onboarding process

Usually new hires can lean over to their neighbour and ask questions, or you can stop by their desk and check in. The challenge now is finding a balance between allowing them to work independently and making sure they’re managing everything without being with them in person.

Set up a new hire Trello board, breaking out steps into specific tasks with due dates and including pre-booked meeting invites for check ins, taking the pressure off of them to schedule a meeting whenever they have a question. This also helps embed them in your process, becoming aware of typical timelines and stand ups.
Arrange for new hires to have one on one calls with a variety of team members, helping them feel comfortable reaching out when a work related question comes up.

While the end of lockdown is currently uncertain, we do know that our ways of working may never go back to what we once considered “normal.” Whether it’s full time remote work, flexible policies, or anything in between, we all have a new outlook on what it means to work from home.

At the time of writing this article, the Catch studio in London is due to reopen, adhering to Government guidelines, on Sept 1st.

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27 Feb 2017

The Lobster launch campaign

In a dystopian near-future, single people are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts

The Lobster Trailer (2016)

Objective

Picturehouse needed an agency to support with the UK release of The Lobster; a quirky Arthouse Blockbuster with an all-star ensemble cast including Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, John C. Reilly, Olivia Colman, Lea Seydoux and many more.

The brief was to:

Build intrigue around The Lobster’s unique concept
Draw on the film’s comedic elements, in order to generate social conversations
Establish the release as the next big Arthouse Blockbuster

Approach

To promote this unique and darkly humorous film we focused on the key themes highlighted by the director, allowing us to subtly educate users to the story without giving spoilers, and to build genuine interest and intrigue. We split the campaign into two main sections:

Intrigue

To build interest in the film in the weeks before release we developed a campaign that focused on one key scene; ‘Man Eats Alone’. This scene demonstrates to the characters the potential perils and pitfalls of being single, and generally how much better life is when you are in a couple.

In the world of the film, being single isn’t an option, you are either in a relationship, or you are turned into an animal and released into the woods! We created a series of social assets to be used cross platform that would provide some fun, quirky and occasionally dark examples of propaganda that could appear in public places.

The assets were well received by fans across social channels for the BFI, Film4 and The Lobster, providing a great talking point for social and a place for users to share from and start their own debates around the themes.

Excite

When trying to explain the concept of the film, the thing that really gets a reaction from people is the idea that if you are single you will be taken to a room and changed into an animal. To add to this peril, you also have to choose which animal you would like to be.

To excite cinemagoers we put them in the place of the characters and asked them what they would be if they had to choose. We gave them some help though and created a darkly dangerous quiz that starts off restrained and ends with some evocative questions that really get to the heart of the user's psyche.

Our quiz then recommends which animal you should choose and provides a handy sharing asset allowing you to brag about being a Bear or congratulate yourself on being a Cat.

You can take the quiz here at www.lobsterfilmquiz.co.uk and find out what animal you should be!