Together with ASFINAG, the creative agency developed a gamification-style employer branding campaign to attract young Gen Z talent.

The struggle to attract talented young applicants is becoming an ever greater challenge for companies. As a result, competition between employers looking to recruit young employees is fierce. ASFINAG therefore decided to take a strikingly different approach.

According to the company, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach the young target group and inform them about ASFINAG's diverse fields of activity, so they wanted to meet Gen Z in their world - the gaming world.

Instead of struggling through lengthy application processes and dry job descriptions, the aim was to provide a fun way to explore career opportunities at ASFINAG and ideally find a job that you really identify with and where you can actually apply your skills.

With the motto "Choose your Career" and the reference to the TikTok trend "Choose your Character", the campaign takes the first step towards the target group.

In collaboration with Christo Penev, Daniel Poschinger and Mladen Penev, visual artists and production, 15 animated avatars were developed in a gaming style. Each character represents a different occupational group and thus a possible career path at ASFINAG for applicants.

You can create your own 3D avatar on the landing page, which was implemented by the digital agency Kraftwerk. Alternatively, a ready-made character can be selected from one of the five major job worlds - construction, route, toll, IT or service - and adapted to your own interests and talents in order to test the extent to which your personal skills match the jobs on offer.

The ASFINAG avatars are being established throughout Austria via a broad-based campaign. From posters to many different social media channels to display ads specifically targeted at the target group, the characters attract attention wherever potential applicants can be reached.

A special filter was also designed for Instagram that allows users to transform themselves into avatars. The resulting images can then also be used directly for applications to ASFINAG.

"We hope that the applicants have just as much fun with the avatars as we had developing the campaign," explains Petra Mödlhammer-Prantner, Head of Marketing and Communication at ASFINAG. "83 percent of young Austrians regularly play online games, create their gaming selves, take on challenges and enjoy being successful as team players. It's all about skill, creativity and enjoyment. These qualities fit well with our numerous and varied jobs at ASFINAG."

"In order to attract a new generation of talent, employers also have to break new ground themselves. With Choose Your Career, an innovative application process was created that is based on mechanisms from the gamification sector and provides playful information about career paths, skillsets and the variety of jobs at ASFINAG. The character configuration is very familiar to the target group from countless games and sorcerers and warriors become IT wizards or construction heroes," adds Christian Hellinger, Creative Managing Director of Wien Nord Serviceplan.

An overview of all avatars, as well as the possibility to create your own, can be found at: www.asfinag.at/chooseyourcareer