Stuck in the times

[via Scoop.co.nz]
Monday, 15 January 2007

Aucklanders travelling to work this morning could well be forgiven for thinking they had stepped back 100 years in time.

Commuters at the Ferry Building and Britomart were greeted by paperboys and girls, dressed in period costume, passing out copies of a fictional 1907 newspaper ‘Stuck In The Times’.

The newspaper, created by the leading online employment site SEEK, contains fictional articles and advertisements and leads with a story headed "Auckland madman predicts thing he calls 'the Internet' ".

SEEK general manager Ken Leeming says 10,000 copies of the paper were distributed to commuters around Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this morning as part of a national marketing campaign.

He says the idea behind the innovative campaign is to highlight that online advertising is the way of the future.

"We wanted to do something that was original and a bit of fun - but which also promoted the serious message that online job advertising has grown so rapidly that it is now becoming the preferred option for companies looking for the best talent in the market...

"...Stuck in the Times highlights that at SEEK jobs are fresh and updated hourly. Importantly the jobs are truly recent, why should you have to wait for Saturday’s paper?.

SEEK’s recent survey suggest more job seekers are choosing the internet, over other mediums, to look for a job.

“Companies are really struggling to attract good talent at the moment. If they’re serious about getting the best candidates in the market they simply have to advertise where the candidates are looking – and that’s online.”

He says the number of Kiwis with internet access is high and growing rapidly.

“The 2006 Census showed that over 60 per cent of households in New Zealand now have access to the internet but that figure would be considerably higher among the job seeking population.”

MORE.

Coincidentally, Seek was trying to grab some limelight for itself when Google boss Eric Schmidt was possibly scoping around for companies to buy up.