In this episode of VMJPod’s Employer Brand Series, hosts David Macciocca and Brie Mason are joined by employer brand expert Daniel Connolly, to unpack one of the biggest challenges facing employer brand teams today: proving value.
Daniel shares how employer brand teams can move beyond reactive requests and position their work as a solution to real business problems. Drawing on experience across employer brand, employee experience, learning and organisational development, he breaks down how to diagnose the root issue, build a compelling brief, and align talent attraction activity with commercial outcomes.
The conversation explores what makes a strong employer brand brief, how marketing principles can strengthen credibility, and why validating insights with the business is just as important as gathering them. Daniel also reflects on measuring ROI, keeping stakeholders engaged throughout a campaign, and using data and storytelling to earn long-term trust and investment.
This episode is a must-listen for employer brand, TA and people leaders looking to secure buy-in, funding and impact through smarter, more commercial thinking.
Key topics
01:10 – Daniel’s background across employer brand, employee experience, learning and organisational development.
03:20 – Why employer brand often becomes reactive and why starting with a business case matters.
05:10 – How employer brand work usually surfaces through Talent Acquisition and TA business partners.
07:00 – Diagnosing the real problem: attraction, retention or capability gaps.
09:10 – Why recruiter insight alone is not enough and the need for multiple data sources.
11:20 – Getting out of the HR bubble and speaking directly with the business.
13:00 – Daniel’s marketing foundation at Lion and what employer brand can learn from consumer marketing.
15:40 – Why a strong brief is critical to crystallise thinking and guide decision-making.
17:40 – Managing expectations and avoiding unrealistic “unicorn candidate” promises.
19:20 – Case study: building a female talent attraction campaign for field sales at Lion.
22:10 – Challenging industry stereotypes and uncovering hidden perception barriers.
24:40 – Distilling myths through insight and documenting them in the brief.
26:30 – Validating the brief with the business and creating shared ownership.
28:20 – Using the brief as a credibility tool when asking for time, budget and support.
30:10 – Measuring success beyond applications: quality, retention and long-term ROI.
32:10 – Why employer brand teams need to think and act more commercially.
34:10 – Keeping stakeholders engaged throughout a campaign, not just at the end.
36:00 – Capacity planning with TA to protect candidate experience.
38:00 – Feeding campaign learnings into future hiring strategies.
40:10 – What every strong brief must include: audience clarity and actionable insight.
41:50 – Final reflections on credibility, commercial thinking and employer brand impact.
If you want to learn more about activating your employer brand strategy and EVP then you can check out podcast.videomyjob.com for a library of industry perspectives and how-tos.
Now, if you’re ready to level up your activation strategy then you need an employee story video platform and that’s what we do! Go to videomyjob.com/demo to book a walkthrough with one of our video specialists or click on the pricing page to learn about our new 60-day pilot program.
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