Together with ANSR (Romanian Deaf National Association), Kaufland wanted to make a bold statement about deaf inclusivity in the workforce by turning thousands of TikTok users into advocates for the recruitment cause of individuals with hearing impairments, facilitating the viral spread of the recruitment message within the platform. This allowed us to engage with our audience organically with maximum impact and earned media. Connection and reach were key to spreading our recruitment message. The campaign initiated a much-needed conversation about deaf inclusivity using an overlooked platform, as all corporations assume the deaf community is not on TikTok.

In Romania, 1 in 22 people live with a form of disability, and sadly, more than 30% of them face poverty. The lack of empathy towards those with disabilities hinders their inclusion and makes it harder for them to find a job. Hearing-impaired individuals stand as one of the most marginalized disability groups in Romania in terms of employment. Only 1 out of 7 Deaf individuals has a job. Due to misconceptions regarding their capabilities, they often give up searching for a job and end up in precarious forms of work, such as temporary or seasonal jobs, where they struggle to survive daily.

Kaufland, one of Romania's leading retailers, is deeply committed to fostering a workplace culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion.

In 2019, Kaufland partnered with the Romanian Deaf National Association (ANSR) to launch the ACCES program that integrates professionals with disabilities into its workforce. This initiative resulted in the employment of over 450 individuals. Today, Kaufland continues to demonstrate its unwavering commitment to inclusivity by offering more than 500 job opportunities for people with disabilities across its stores.

Therefore, it's no surprise that Kaufland felt important to tackle the employment challenges faced by the Deaf community, not only by expressing sympathy, as many other brands have done before, but by making a tangible impact on their lives.

Kaufland aims to promote diversity and inclusion both in our workplace and in society at large. Recognizing the stark reality that 85% of hearing-impaired individuals in Romania are unemployed and isolated, with only 1 out of 7 having a job, we felt compelled to take action. Our objective was clear: initiate a meaningful conversation with the Deaf community in Romania about employment opportunities at Kaufland, reinforcing our brand as a beacon of diversity and inclusion in the retail industry. The campaign sought to achieve unprecedented visibility for the Deaf community, emphasizing their importance in the workforce, while also encouraging TikTok users to become advocates for the recruitment of individuals with hearing impairments. By encouraging our TikTok community to engage with our initiative, we aimed to increase the number of job applications from Deaf individuals for the Kaufland Access Program, moving closer to our goal of tangible inclusion and employment opportunities.

Introducing: Kaufland Dance Talk, a recruitment dance made in sign language, and launched on TikTok for everyone to recreate. Together with ANSR (Romanian Deaf National Association), Kaufland wanted to make a bold statement about deaf inclusivity by launching the first TikTok recruitment campaign that communicates in a universal language to convey a recruitment message: DANCE.

We cleverly disguised our recruitment announcement into unique dance choreography using TikTok's entertaining "dance challenges" format. Moreover, we worked with a professional choreographer and Sign language interpreters to create our choreography. To ensure the campaign's message reached as many people as possible, amateur dancers from the TikTok community were encouraged to recreate the dance moves on their personal TikTok profiles, with the opportunity to win prizes. When the dance became a movement, we came clean, and revealed the moves for what they were: a recruitment announcement in sign language hidden in plain sight.

We knew that the Deaf Community struggles to find meaningful, paid employment due to their work abilities misconceptions. But how could we initiate a meaningful conversation and encourage them to explore work opportunities at Kaufland? Insights from Deaf employees in Kaufland's Access Program revealed a profound truth: Deafness isn't inherently disabling; societal perceptions marginalize them. We intentionally released the campaign on TikTok without mentioning sign language to get TikTokers on board, before the big reveal.  The issue of job inclusion isn’t a simple one, #KauflandDanceTalk wasn’t intended to solve the problem entirely, its aim is to create awareness and help hearing-impaired people to join the workforce. The unique campaign assets were created by us in collaboration with our talent, shared organically and in TikTok media, as well as shared by participants on TikTok as part of the Hashtag Challenge.

Phase 1: We launched the dance on our Kaufland TikTok channel during August, which is a month when all the social media platforms are full of trending dance moves from big music festivals. We asked famous TikTok influencers to jump in to reacreate the dance making it look like a typical trending dance. We launched this organically as a TikTok dance challenge, prompting users to jump on board and learn the moves for themselves, creating their own videos.

Phase 2- When summer ended we revealed to the world that hidden within the dance choreography was a recruitment announcement for hearing-impaired people: "Join Kaufland! Search online for the Kaufland ACCESS Employment Program. We're waiting for you to join our team!" We extended the campaign via other channels. Media were briefed and interviews ensured further support in TV and radio which shared Kaufland's recruitment message for the Deaf Community.

The dance took off, and we received 1100 new applications from people with disabilities through the Kaufland ACCESS program. Our diversity and inclusion brand reputation grew by +15%, reaching 86%, as reported by the TOP Employer study 2023. Among the 55k TikTok users who engaged with the campaign, many became brand advocates for the recruitment cause of individuals with hearing impairments, facilitating the viral spread of the message within the platform. The Hashtag Challenge page garnered 20 million views and reached 6.5 million unique users, leading to the creation of a TikTok viral sensation. According to the TikTok Index, our Dance Talk hero video is the most visible in the hypermarket category, with 12 times more views than the category average. Kaufland was declared the #1 Top Inclusive Employer in Romania, setting a positive example for other companies to follow suit in creating more inclusive workplaces.