Building an employer brand from the inside

Understanding the need

With a new leader, transformative new business strategy, and a need for new employees in a competitive market, Marathon Oil, a global independent energy company based in Houston, Texas, turned to us to build and execute an employer brand strategy. The objectives: help them become a recognisable brand to prospective hires while bolstering the culture andbuilding trust among current employees. We recognized that digging deep to discover what values and character traits made the organization unique, and finding authentic ways to tell these stories, would address both needs in ways that would resonate with both internal and external audiences.

Defining the brand

Hundred was brought in to help develop an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) — a clear definition of what makes a company culture, values and ambitions unique to employees — and a campaign to share this brand vision both internally and externally. We began, as always, with research and analysis. In-depth interviews with dozens of employees throughout the organization produced clear themes which formed the heart of the EVP. We also carried out detailed research to identify and benchmark both external and internal channels for communicating the brand message. What emerged was a brand and campaign built around the way Marathon Oil lives its values and the opportunity for employees to ‘make a difference’ in their careers, their fields of expertise and their communities by being part of Marathon Oil.

Sharing in all the right places

Once we had an EVP in place we were able to start weaving it into all the identified channels. For recruiting, this included revamping the careers section of the corporate website and developing new recruiter and candidate materials focused on values and highlighting individual career stories, Internally, we implemented a values campaign using the same authentic employee stories, reinforcing the reasons people had chosen to join Marathon Oil and why they supported its transformational strategy.

“When an organization embarks on a transformational journey, the people they choose to work with on that path are an essential part of the success of the efforts. Hundred Brands has been a unique partnership for Marathon Oil.”

Deanna Jones,
Senior Vice President
Marathon Oil.

Top ten in Houston

As a direct result of having a well-defined and promoted employee brand and proposition, not only was Marathon Oil successful in recruiting the candidates it need, but it also moved up to become rated as one of the top ten places to work in Houston.