Over 750 applications from around the world were received for the YouTube Works Awards SEA 2023 and only 12 brands from the Philippines were chosen as finalists.

In a competitive digital landscape, brands must work twice as hard in order to stand out. In fact, on a global scale, 58% of small businesses use digital marketing, and even plan to invest more of their marketing budgets into it! This just goes to show that from releasing heartwarming to heart-racing, educational, and even inspirational content, the ways and means that marketers communicate with their audience are just as vast.

This is where the YouTube Works Awards comes in. This annual event, in the website’s words, “champions the brilliant minds producing the most innovative and effective campaigns on YouTube in the past period.”

“When we say we’re bigger and better, we mean it—this year’s Awards comes packed with a broader arena, new categories, and an all-star jury to give the best works the celebration they deserve, now from across the [Southeast Asian region] SEA,” it adds.

The YouTube Works Awards SEA 2023

Out of the only 12 brands from the Philippines announced as finalists for the YouTube Works Awards SEA 2023, the online career platform Jobstreet by SEEK was named the runner-up in “The All Action Hero” category. Said category recognizes brands that maximize the action-oriented features of YouTube to effectively achieve its goals and encourage conversion as well as awareness.

“Being named as having one of the most effective campaigns this year is an incredible honor, as we’ve seen a lot of exceptional executions over the past period,” says Dannah Majarocon, the Managing Director of the Philippine division of Jobstreet by SEEK. “We are extremely grateful for the YouTube Works Awards for recognizing our campaign.”

Jobstreet by SEEK earned its recognition through its video campaign series called “Hire Real Talent.” The campaign is a three-part video series that aims to show the realities of hiring candidates on social media to the audience. 

It likewise aims to encourage companies to make use of legitimate job platforms to target the right candidates.

Jobstreet by SEEK’s “Hire Real Talent” Campaign

In its three videos, Jobstreet by SEEK makes use of satire and wit to show companies that seeking qualified applicants through social media may not necessarily bring them the best-suited candidates. 

The first video, which is entitled “Sam Juan the Avatar,” shows that the applicant being interviewed makes use of a display photo of a newly set up social media account. Hence, it is anonymous, lifeless, and even unrecognizable.

The second video, “The Family,” features an applicant eventually deemed unidentifiable—thanks to their profile photo being a family portrait. Last but not least is “Franz Bob the Chef,” which shows an applicant who is seen to have had work experience in a nonexistent restaurant. Because of this, there is difficulty in determining factual information about them.

What the Campaign Hopes to Teach Hiring Companies

Jobstreet by SEEK hopes that its campaign serves as a reminder to hiring companies that social media may not be the best place to seek the best-suited candidates to fill vacant posts. The campaign highlights that social media lacks identity verification, which makes it hard to distinguish real from fake accounts. 

Aside from this, many social media users often lack professional profiles and work experience information. This ultimately makes it difficult for companies to properly assess their candidates.