The proof of the pudding is in the eating
Management consultant Ruf Lanz is advising McKinsey on how to attract young talent. The bar is set high.
Management consultant Ruf Lanz advises McKinsey on recruiting young talent. From the old Swissair to the new Swisscom: wherever an important company is being restructured in Switzerland, the management consultants at McKinsey have a hand in it. The company has 11,000 employees worldwide. There has also been an office in Switzerland since 1966, which currently employs 250 people, around 170 of whom are consultants. And new talent is always being sought. McKinsey therefore commissioned a recruitment campaign from the Ruf Lanz agency. Ruf Lanz won the job after a pitch. It is "not a counter-deal with McKinsey", jokes CD Markus Ruf, as there are "no restructuring measures" pending at his agency.students from a wide range of disciplines are being sought as future consultants. Around 39 percent of McKinsey's specialists come from the field of economics, 24 percent from engineering, 19 percent are natural scientists, 11 percent studied computer science and, remarkably, only 3 percent studied law. The most important requirements for a job at McKinsey are an excellent university degree, strong analytical thinking and excellent communication skills.
Targeting young people with ambitions
It is therefore clear that the recruitment campaign for McKinsey was "not aimed at clueless 30-semester students, but at ambitious young people who have never been satisfied with the first best solution," explains Markus Ruf.
The agency dramatizes this elitist claim with a case that deviates conspicuously from the norm. In addition to a writing tool, the case contains only erasers. The "tool" that is always used when you want to turn a good solution into a better one.
The case of the "tireless optimizer" with 21 erasers and just one pencil is used as an advertisement in numerous student publications, as well as in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. "In this way, McKinsey's clients also see that the company is always looking for new, ambitious people," says Pius Fritschi at McKinsey.
The advertisements have no running text, only the Internet address.
address of McKinsey. Further information can be found in pop-ups on the site, which Markus Ruf considers to be "appropriate for the target group".
The motif is consistently continued in an elaborately designed brochure, which itself looks like a case. Finally, the key visual is also intended to attract attention as an exhibition stand at information events at universities.
To get even deeper into the world of universities, Ruf Lanz has also developed a new advertising medium: It is a pencil that is almost half eraser. The imprint: "McKinsey is looking for university graduates who are not satisfied with the first best solution." The pencils are offered at universities in a dispenser.
"Tireless optimization": McKinsey is looking for ambitious talents.
Andreas Panzeri
Targeting young people with ambitions
It is therefore clear that the recruitment campaign for McKinsey was "not aimed at clueless 30-semester students, but at ambitious young people who have never been satisfied with the first best solution," explains Markus Ruf.
The agency dramatizes this elitist claim with a case that deviates conspicuously from the norm. In addition to a writing tool, the case contains only erasers. The "tool" that is always used when you want to turn a good solution into a better one.
The case of the "tireless optimizer" with 21 erasers and just one pencil is used as an advertisement in numerous student publications, as well as in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. "In this way, McKinsey's clients also see that the company is always looking for new, ambitious people," says Pius Fritschi at McKinsey.
The advertisements have no running text, only the Internet address.
address of McKinsey. Further information can be found in pop-ups on the site, which Markus Ruf considers to be "appropriate for the target group".
The motif is consistently continued in an elaborately designed brochure, which itself looks like a case. Finally, the key visual is also intended to attract attention as an exhibition stand at information events at universities.
To get even deeper into the world of universities, Ruf Lanz has also developed a new advertising medium: It is a pencil that is almost half eraser. The imprint: "McKinsey is looking for university graduates who are not satisfied with the first best solution." The pencils are offered at universities in a dispenser.
"Tireless optimization": McKinsey is looking for ambitious talents.
Andreas Panzeri
