Orange Graduate Panel

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The brief


Orange is working to build its reputation in the competitive business communications market whilst recognising its brand heritage and value.
To build affinity with businesses and show understanding of the issues they face, in 2006 it commissioned “Working Progress”, a report with Demos exploring the key challenge of recruiting and retaining graduates.
Orange now wanted to take the debate further - go beyond identifying the issues and explore how they could be practically addressed.

Campaign overview


Plenty of research is published by organisations telling young people how to be successful at work. Orange and Edelman wanted to take a fresh approach. The team decided to turn the tables and give young people the chance to express their ideas on how graduate recruitment could be improved.
Working in partnership with the Government-backed Make Your Mark enterprise campaign, and with a mixture of quantitative research and live workshops to deliver qualitative insights, the team worked with students and graduates to develop practical recommendations to address the issues raised in “Working Progress”.

Results

  • The Association of Graduate Recruiters requested a short film be made about the panel, which was shown to over 500 UK businesses in the 2007 conference opening keynote.
  • Stephen Timms MP, minister for competitiveness spoke at the Enterprise Week 2008 Graduate Panel recommendations event, quoting the results of the research. The event was attended by over 50 businesses and industry organizations, with many more requesting the research results.
  • Media coverage for Orange was achieved in titles including BBC News Online, The Guardian, Director and Sunday Times.