Department of Corrections launches new recruitment campaign via Stanley St

Stanley St has launched the next phase of the Department of Corrections multi-media recruitment campaign.

The latest recruitment campaign ‘Stories from the Inside’ is fronted by investigative reporter and host of the Guilt: True Crime podcast, Ryan Wolf, who helps share the perspectives of frontline staff. The campaign includes television, online and billboard advertising with four different stories from two corrections officers, a probation officer and a nurse.

Directed by Robin Walters for Film360, filmed behind the wire at a Waikato facility, each story is authentic and emotive, informed by real experiences, demonstrating aspects of the important role Corrections play in keeping New Zealand safe.

Says Neil Beales, chief custodial officer at Corrections: “It’s no secret we’ve faced significant staffing pressures over the last 18 months, and we’ve been actively recruiting more people to the frontline. Our first recruitment campaign, which ran in 2022 and 2023, helped us hire over 1,000 new corrections officers.”

The 45” stories are followed by 15” CTA spots that feature the same characters, breaking the ‘fourth wall’ and making a direct invitation for the audience to join the Department of Corrections team.

Says Beales: “A lot of our work goes unseen, so it’s great being able to tell real stories about what our staff do in prisons and the community. These stories are just a few examples, but hopefully they give potential recruits a better idea of what a career at Corrections looks like.”

A fully integrated campaign, the first advertisement titled “Pushed Out” has aired on TV, reaching approximately 241,308 people in the target audience of people aged 25-54.

Says Courtney Newton, head of media planning and investment at Stanley St: “This year’s campaign also includes a customised solution leveraging real time job listing data to target the media spend to the areas where frontline staff are most required, overlaid with job seeker audience targeting.

“During the campaign we will leverage dynamic creative elements, ensuring the right job vacancies are delivered to the most relevant locations. This new always on approach will utilise a Stanley St. proprietary decisioning engine to manage Corrections’ media spend effectively and efficiently by dialling up or down budget to areas and roles most in demand.”

View the campaign hub: https://careers.corrections.govt.nz/stories-from-the-inside/

Agency: Stanley St

Production: Film360
Director: Robin Walters