CorpComms Magazine

This campaign also took home the Grand Prix prize for best overall digital communications

Coronation Street is the longest running soap opera in the world, and still - more than 50 years after launch - one of Britain's most popular programmes. But to keep the viewers gripped and watching, ITV Studios needs to constantly find talented writers. In an effort to extend its pool to a wider and more diverse group of writers, the producers went social in their three-week recruitment campaign.

Instead of sending out a 'new vacancy tweet', ITV Studios created a series of more than 30 'micro ad tweets', which tied in with existing storylines and characters in Coronation Street. For example, one tweet read: 'Tyrone ___ because ___ Molly ___ Kevin. Help complete the Storylines...'

The campaign also ran on Facebook, where the tweets were repeated, and potential 'Story Associates' were asked to complete the story. 'What's the story? Could it be yet another Corrie glory?' applicants were asked.

Videos of classic Coronation Street storylines were uploaded onto the Facebook page to inspire and remind applicants of the quality of characters and past storylines while discussion groups were set up to encourage involvement. Writer groups on LinkedIn were also alerted to the opportunity. The judges loved 'the story concept', adding: 'This was nicely tailored and executed well.'

The innovative approach to recruitment soon spread across free listing jobsites and blogs, without any input from ITV Studios, while a passionate and active community of more than 300 members discussed the opportunity on Twitter.

More than 900 applications were received, which was far higher than anticipated and ITV Studios added to its two planned Assessment Workshops. Unsuccessful candidates even continued the discussion, creating a Facebook group of 'Story Disassociates' where they continued to discuss programme ideas. For a budget of £4,500, ITV Studios created a pool of 20 Storyliners.

'This was a highly creative idea, which was differentiated across different channels and achieved excellent results on a low budget,' said the judges.

Shortlisted entries:

'You are the big picture' - Aviva - Agency: Blue Rubicon

'Smarter planet comes to you' - IBM - Agency: Ogilvy PR Worldwide

'Who killed Deon?' - Metropolitan Police - Agency: AMV BBDO

'Mozy's unmissable moments' - Mozy - Agency: Komodo PR

'There's no time like real time' - O2 in the UK

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