#InItTogether: What's in it for LinkedIn?

As the professional networking platform rolls out an extensive version of LinkedIn In It Together in India, Social Samosa takes a look at the functionality of the campaign and how it helps LinkedIn in achieving its objective.

It was 2012 when Facebook came out with their first ever mass campaign – Things That Connect. A campaign that left millions confused, but was an early symptom of the need of surrogate marketing for social media platforms. Then it was Facebook’s battle against fake likes, which has now evolved to the basic survival of the fittest.

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While Facebook is engaged in its own mass campaigns thriving on the power of individuality, LinkedIn is slowly but surely edging towards a role-model image – a gaping need gap left by Facebook. But does it make sense to compare Facebook – a peer to peer social networking platform to LinkedIn a business networking platform? Given the recent developments, it does.

#InItTogether

Like its global counterparts, India too witnessed the launch of In It Together, LinkedIn’s global brand campaign during a big ticket event. The campaign embodies the insight that ‘success means different things to different people’ and is about members on LinkedIn and every professional in the workforce. It is about celebrating members’ different notions of success, their motivations, their daily lives, and what members are “in it for”.

The campaign began with LinkedIn’s TV campaign with IPL and takes a more individualistic approach, communicated loud and clear with the black and white effect, candid montages, and smiling close ups. Taking the oldest trick in the book, LinkedIn’s campaign keeps the users as the subject, unlike their previous attempt – Closer Than You Think.

Released in 2016, " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Closer Than You Think was a message drive campaign, positioning LinkedIn as the bridge between you and your ideal job. In It Together on the other hand, is largely driven by consumer oriented content, featuring stories of real life professional heroes such who dared to tread unchartered territories and conquered with inspirational stories.

In It Together was first launched in January, 2018 as a television commercial during the Golden Globes.

Content Push

As an extension of the campaign, LinkedIn released a 12 part series lauding the sheroes of the Indian world. From Faye D’Souza, Executive Editor, Mirror Now to Shalini Raghavan, CMO, L’Oreal, Women At Work features stories of role models who re-defined success across industries.

The professional networking platform’s attempt to include professions considered unconventional is apparent. The content spread consists of professions ranging from photography to chefs. All the videos have been created in association with Film Companion.

LinkedIn has gone all out with content dissemination, getting LinkedIn Influencers in addition to real life influencers to create buzz around the campaign. The search results for #InItTogether on LinkedIn lead to professionals across the globe leading conversations specific and important to their domain.

LinkedIn India professionals too have been sharing their own versions of #InItTogether in an attempt to walk the talk.
Creative view

“Where most advertising screams for attention, I appreciate the quiet approach that the LinkedIn film has taken,” shares Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Soho Square , The Ogilvy Group, India.

“At the same time, the black and white photography gets it noticed with its elegant and premium feel. The fact that real people are featured in the campaign lends it authenticity. #InItTogether gives the user a sense of belonging to a support system. Leveraging the 'in' of LinkedIn is a clever touch.”

Chattopadhyay further explains that the range of jobs from the corporate to the artistic, makes one feel that LinkedIn is relevant to you no matter which field you are in. The film starts with relatable scenes from everyone's mornings. “If I had to improve the campaign, I would have chosen slightly more memorable moments from the work situations. That might have added more texture to the campaign,” he concludes.

Sreeja Gopalakrishnan – Creative Director, Copy – L&K Saatchi & Saatchi on the other hand feels that the campaign could have pushed conventional professional boundaries by going beyond white collar jobs.

“I think it’s interesting to see that the commercial broke the typical “corporate types” that you would expect to see on a portal like LinkedIn. But it would’ve been more interesting if they pushed the boundaries a little more on the professions or characters. Because if you’re not held back by the constraints of “show only white collar jobs” in the brief, why not have fun with it?” Gopalakrishnan elaborates.

Gopalakrishnan feels that the campaign makes a connect as long as the TG is any kind of professional familiar with LinkedIn. “But for those who don’t know what LinkedIn is, this ad does nothing.”

The professional man’s Facebook!

According to our opinion, pup until 2016, LinkedIn had a rather serious image constricted to professional networking, client acquisition, and company profiles rendering a rather B2B image to the platform. LinkedIn first added the inspirational undertones LinkedIn Power Profiles first released in 2012 – a list of professionals across industries, including Human Resource, Internet, Marketing & Advertising, and Telecom.

Power Profiles created a twin effect – creating a feeling of aspiration for those who wish to be a part of the list and inspiration for those in lookout for role models in their industry.

In the last two years, LinkedIn’s approach sifted from service driven to people first, imbibing the thought of being a companion much in line with millennial interest points such as off-beat professions and start-ups.

In terms of UI too, LinkedIn’s attempt at become a professional companion are tangible. In late 2017, the social networking platform launched career-centric features such as suggestions to find mentors for professional advice, notifications on trending skills, salary insights, and more.

2018 however, witnessed more consumer centric updates, some of which were received with flak, accusing LinkedIn of shedding its professional image. Some of these updates include, Snapchat like video filters and text overlays, addition of GIFs to LinkedIn messaging feature, location based connections, and the recent new profile layout, which is very similar to that of Facebook.

Also Read: Linkedin adds video filters, text styles and ask for referral button!

Does it really work?

1. In your personal experience, how often is LinkedIn a serious contributor to your professional endeavour? More often than not, in my personal experience, LinkedIn has been the platform for professional stalking (let’s be honest), networking, and debates. An example of which would be Nykaa’s open statement to Myntra to stop their “stupid attempts” at poaching their “marketing girls”. Does #InItTogether add to the existing role and brand image LinkedIn possess?
2. Will this campaign, get a non LinkedIn user to sign up on the platform?
3. Or is LinkedIn just attempting to enter the big boys’ league? As Facebook assaults all communication platforms with Live What You Love, is LinkedIn attempting to snatch a piece of the pie or merely reiterate that they have a pie that interests users and brands alike?

While LinkedIn In It Together might be a creative masterstroke, its ability to meet the objective lies under fire.