ASIS needed to simultaneously recruit and communicate that what they wanted WASN’T the next James Bond, rather someone with refined interpersonal skills. Our target audience was psychographic, not demographic. Most desirable, high profile jobs at places like Google or Facebook all have crazy stories about how hard or quirky the job interview process is. We took our cue from this cultural insight decided to make our candidates come to us. To recruit young, diverse and emotionally intelligent Australians we decided to create The Most Interesting Job Interview – an interactive digital experience. This experience would attracting the curious browser, but since the experience was a digital interview it would also educate and help filter candidates for us. Perfectly combining advertising with recruitment. Our digital strategy focused on popular news environments that globally minded and intelligent people read i.e. The Guardian and major Australian Mastheads.

Our PR campaign launched with the Minister For Foreign Affairs and Trade, Julie Bishop, announcing the online interview in a televised morning show. Several TV personalities even took the test themselves. It’s no secret to say that none of them should quit their day jobs.

Of course, not all of our target audience watch television. So we also supplied press releases and assets to relevant radio stations, tech websites, blogs and influencers, as well as running a paid partnership with a major newspaper that saw sponsored articles run in the foreign affairs sections of online newspapers.

What we didn't plan for was for coverage of The Most Interesting Interview to stretch as far as Germany, France, Spain and CBS New York. It turned out that it wasn't just Australian's that wanted to try their luck and see if they had the skills to work in espionage.

Australians might not have heard of ASIS before, but it didn’t take long for the entire country to suit up for The Most Interesting Job Interview.

On the day it was launched, the interview generated over $2 million dollars of earned media, appearing on Australia's two largest morning shows, and making it as far as news broadcasts in France, Germany and CBS New York. The Australian Minister For Foreign Affairs and Trade, Julie Bishop, also joined our PR push, appearing on live television to talk about the ASIS organisation.

In total, over 400,000 Australians took the online interview, with the average user spending over 6 minutes on the site. Google Analytics estimates that average website session lasts just under 55 seconds, meaning our website eclipsed the industry benchmark.

The total numbers of applicatnts, as well as conversion data, is classified.