Fuse Marketing Group has really gone out on a limb to recruit new staff. Like a lot of agencies, the Toronto shop has been having a hard time finding talent. Fuse offered a financial incentive to employees who recommended new hires, but in an executive meeting earlier this summer, VP and creative director Brenda McNeilly suggested they come up with some internal advertising to better catch the attention of employees. She asked the creative team of Jocelyn McTavish and Andy Lumsdon to give her a hand, and the pair were soon struck by inspiration during a fire alarm. Milling around outside the downtown Toronto office they wandered into a store that sells mannequin parts. In short order hands, feet and legs were scattered around the Fuse office, with stickers that read, for example: “Hand. Approximate value $34.32. Bring us the whole employee and get up to $1,500.” Staff immediately took notice, says McNeilly. Even better, recommendations have gone up. Every couple of weeks the appendages are moved around, and so far only one has been lost. Actually, not so much lost as destroyed when one staffer brought his dog to the office, which turned a hand into a chew toy.
