Getting a Job at Gocompare. Some Thoughts

Update at bottom of post

I can’t find any obvious employment/careers/jobs links on the Gocompare website. Maybe I’m missing something? (or maybe they’re just not hiring?)

So, I guess I need to get their attention in some creative way. If there isn’t a job, then maybe I can show that I can add value and they’ll find somewhere for me to fit in. Wishful thinking…

Some quick ideas:

• Send CEO/director InMail on LinkedIn (need to buy LinkedIn premium ~£25)
• Create viral website that eventually gets back to some higher ups (could take a while. No guarantee anyone will notice)
• Message HR staff somehow (a bit weird)
• Do some sort of analysis. Gocompare vs Comparethemarket. Gio Compario vs Alexander Orlov (do I really want to share traffic with CTM?)
• Who kills Gio next? (sounds a tad sinister. Maybe some campaign for people to decide how to kill of Gio next – like the current adverts)

I have the ability to directly message the CEO and company/department directors. I feel this alone wouldn’t be enough to show a few things in particular; how much I want to work there, my tech/marketing ability/knowledge, and it doesn’t give incentive for them to actually hire me. I need to give them a good idea that they’ll speak to other people in the company about not because some stranger messaged them, but because the idea is genuinely good and showed some good initiative.

Creating a viral website is a good idea, but does have obvious drawbacks. Could be a lot of time spent for absolutely no traction. Also, I don’t want to look like I’ve associated myself with Gocompare without their permission (they’d probably ask me to take it down?). Also could take a long time to receive any feedback (if any). Viral is notoriously difficult to get right.

I don’t think messaging recruitment or HR staff would be particularly effective. I don’t have much to say to them, and they probably won’t appreciate being messaged out of the blue with someone simply asking for a job.

I think a combination of some of the above points would be good. Hopefully it’ll reduce the risk of a website not gaining traction, whilst still getting a value adding point across to Gocompare. Maybe create the idea/website and then use LinkedIn to alert Gocompare CEO + head of marketing. (“Keep it simple stupid”/KISS – who I am, what I want, why you should care)

Gio Compario (Gocompare.com) vs Alexander Orlov (comparethemarket.com) vs Karla (confused.com)

It’s interesting to note how prominent these 3 characters are in all 3 of the company’s branding exercises. Gio Compario probably has had the most attention in the media lately, winning 2 consecutive awards won for “The UK’s most annoying advert”. People now (love to?) hate him, and Gocompare’s new adverts center entirely on getting rid of him. Comparethemarket certainly have done an equally good job with their fictional character, Alexander Orlov. Though he’s more likely to win an award for the most comical character, rather than most annoying.

I find it very impressive how the top 4 price comparison sites have such prominent and impressive marketing campaigns. I guess the industry of price comparison is all about marketing since it’s the product is fairly homogenous.

I could maybe a top trump style comparison between the 3 characters (or maybe just Gio vs Alex would be better?). Biggest benefit is that there’s lots of funny information I could compare. Who makes the best food? Italian vs meercat food… Who has the most friends? Gio probably has none… etc etc

HOWEVER. I want a job at Gocompare, not at Comparethemarket. Why should I give CTM any attention? I should concentrate solely on Gocompare, so if it becomes viral then they get all the attention. (read: never mention your competitors in your ads).

So I think the way forward is a competition I thought of a while back. I’m sure a lot of people have the idea in their heads but not in the same vein as this… There have been some very obscure ways of getting rid of Gio. From stephen hawking’s black hole, to Gio getting assassinated by a sniper.

I’m sure the public could come up with more ways to kill Gio than a team of marketers (??). And it’d be a fun and potentially viral exercise. Even simply posting a Facebook poll and sponsoring it would maybe be enough. I think it would be a good idea to create a satellite website though where people can actually go and vote on who should kill Gio, or how he should die. Maybe view the current suggestions and see how many votes they have, and also suggest new ones.

So that’s what I’m going to go with. A mockup of a website where people can vote on how Gio should ‘go’ in the next Gocompare TV advert.

Update: Creating FAOgocompare.com [update: interview]