Decathlon and Camden team up for talent
World’s largest sporting goods retailer develops Canadian employer brand
Montreal, September 20, 2022 – Decathlon has hired Camden to develop its employer brand as the French sporting goods retailer seeks to double the number of employees in its Canadian stores in 2023. Faced with an ongoing labour shortage, the company is implementing an umbrella national recruitment and retention strategy as it continues the nationwide expansion that began with its 2018 Canadian launch in Quebec.
Camden’s proprietary HR Marketing service was used to define and deploy an impactful, distinctive employer brand for the retailer in parallel to Decathlon’s increasing brand awareness in a number of Canadian markets. The agency’s mandate involves employer brand positioning, creation and production for all internal and external touchpoints, as well as an omnichannel media strategy and media buying.
The new Decathlon employer brand is centred around the athletic abilities and favourite sports of current staff members, and was the outcome of a research phase that included a series of design-thinking client workshops, analysis, and insight development. Creative assets include imitation pro athlete trading cards that feature current Decathlon team members – which aligns with brand verbiage – who list their reasons for working at Decathlon. Digital and printed card packs have been produced to reach target audiences through paid media and social media, the latter primarily on TikTok, where candidates can submit a video job application. The campaign also includes content creation and a real-world activation, in parallel to outdoor ads that display a QR code linked to a simplified application form. The Decathlon website’s careers page has also been redesigned using the HR campaign colours for a seamless employer brand experience.
Decathlon’s recruitment campaign kicked off in early September with an activation near a cégep (college) campus in Laval, QC. The light-hearted stunt asked neighbourhood youngsters to take part in quick-fire job interviews inside one of Decathlon’s own Quechua brand tents, enticed by the fun tagline Ça te tente-tu?, a pun on the French word for “tent” that translates to “Wanna give it a shot?”
“Our creative teams took the strategic insights and really ran with them,” commented Mitch Cayouette, Creative Director at Camden’s Montreal office. “The opportunity to help a major brand facing such a key issue not only inspired us all, it also demonstrates Camden’s ability to deliver great work quickly and creatively. I’d also like to mention the fantastic degree of client collaboration – we enjoyed working together as genuine partners on this project.”
“Thanks to Camden we’ve been able to address the issue of our employer brand for the first time since we launched in Canada,” stated Maéva Reffo, Human Resources lead for Decathlon’s employer brand. “We wanted this campaign to be 100% aligned with the Decathlon brand: authentic, fun, quirky, and especially focused on our people. This first Quebec rollout finally enables us to create awareness around the reasons to join Decathlon using an employer brand that has great potential to evolve in the future.”
About Decathlon
Decathlon is the largest sporting goods retailer in the world. Founded in France in 1976, the family-run company designs, produces and distributes thousands of affordable products for over 65 sports at 1,697 stores around the world, including 13 Canadian outlets in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia.
