Our work

A recruitment campaign that resonates with candidates through heartwarming moments

Care & WellbeingDesign, Identity & Strategy

What we did

Brand paper
Creative umbrella concept and slogan
Visual identity and campaign messaging
Tactical communication plan and media channel plan
Content planner with annual calendar and performance dashboard
Campaign materials

Target audiences

People who are looking for a meaningful job but haven’t yet considered youth services
Interns who are figuring out their path
People looking to transition from another sector and candidates who apply on their own initiative. With a special focus on those who are hesitant, because they think the job is incompatible with a life outside of work

25

High-quality prospective students per year

10

interns who move on

15

career changers, including 10 through VDAB/Actiris and 5 through our own channels

Tonuso's website →

Challenge

How do you attract people who are looking for something that really matters, but aren't considering this job?

Tonuso helps children who cannot live at home due to various circumstances. The caregivers are worth their weight in gold, both for Tonuso and for the children. It’s hard to find enthusiastic applicants, and even harder to retain them. The image of a job as a caregiver can be off-putting: too demanding, impossible to balance with family life, “not for me.” Meanwhile, Tonuso is faced with fragmented initiatives that lack a clear vision.

Result

Luckily, you’re here.*

Three words that say it all about what a caregiver means to a child. The focus isn’t on the hardships, but on the small, heartwarming moments that truly define the work: the soup made of sand and twigs that needs to be tasted, the first wobbly ride on two wheels, chasing monsters out of the room together before bedtime. Moments like these set the tone for the entire campaign.

A concept for lasting success

Based on that overarching concept, we consolidated all of Tonuso’s communications into a single, clear, and emotionally compelling story. Our goal: to attract 25 high-quality candidates per year and double the average tenure from 2 to 4 years.

* “Chance dat jij er bent” in Dutch

Approach

Define the strategy first

We started with a brand paper: refining the value proposition, putting the messages in the right order, and clarifying Tonuso’s position in the market. Only then did we begin working on the creative concept.

Ordinary human moments, not great tales of heroism

This concept looks at things through the candidate’s eyes and tells the story from the child’s perspective. After all, what a mentor does is hard to explain in a job description.

It can, however, be felt through an image: being there for the drum concert on pots and pans, witnessing the first mustache proudly grown, joining in the dress rehearsal of an opening line that’s already been restarted three times. Or simply being there the night before the biology test.

That modular approach, one concrete, recognizable moment at a time, makes the job tangible without romanticizing it. These aren’t grand heroic tales. They’re the ordinary human moments that children who’ve faced so much misfortune have had far too few of, and that a mentor helps make possible every day.

A fair and open approach

We also opted for radical transparency. Being honest about pay, workload, and support isn’t a weakness. It actually removes the barriers that prevent people from applying.

Plan, build, measure

Building on that foundation, we developed the entire campaign: a tactical communication plan with the right channels, an annual calendar with content topics, a performance dashboard to track results, and all campaign materials: from posters and flyers to social media templates and landing pages.

Takeaway

Not every budget allows for a photo shoot

Instead, we spent hours sifting through stock images, looking for people who didn’t look like they came from a stock image database. We gave them names and job titles. It worked: suddenly, they no longer felt like models, but like colleagues. That’s how the campaign, despite its limited budget, still managed to have a warm and relatable face.