A director of a Welsh recruitment agency under fire for an advertising campaign aimed at attracting new clients, which has been labelled offensive by some social media users, has said he would not rule out another such campaign.

Pier Recruitment Agency’s campaign has taken some flack in national media for its use of pictures including those of a boatload of migrants, Jimmy Savile and holocaust victims, with some labelling it offensive or distasteful.

But company director Adam Brown told Recruiter: “It’s generated so much interest that it’s hard to say we wouldn’t go to those advertising extremes in the future.”

The campaign used the images to tell potential clients they could undertake background checks, as well as treat their clients well.

Brown said the campaign was launched about two weeks ago, causing a little bit of local interest before falling into a lull. But it recently went viral and has generated inquiries from as far afield as South Africa and Russia.

It has “without doubt” had the desired effect, he said. Just over the weekend, it has generated five or six potential long-term customers. 

When asked if he thought the campaign had had any negative effect on the company’s brand, Brown said that was potentially the case with people who did not really know the industry, but “the results show”.

However, “I’m disappointed so many people didn’t see the campaign for what is was. Locally, I’ve had a couple of fallings out with friends about it… disappointed some people couldn’t see through the picture”.

Some pictures had serious points, he said. For example, like security in the workplace, “which is more of an issue these days… there were serious points there which people failed to see because the images were so eye-catching”.

The post he was referring to included a picture of Jimmy Savile and the words “we can supply CRB [criminal records bureau] checks on all our guys if required to help protect your workplace from people like him #securityintheworkplace”.

He explained the company, which recruits temporary workers mainly for the construction industry, has been operating for about a year but had not been making the desired profit. 

The campaign was developed after consultation with social media advertising experts, lawyers and existing customers. Brown would not identify his recruitment marketing partners.

“There are companies... who do take their advertising to that extreme kind of level and I think we thought, you know what, what the hell.

“We knew we wouldn’t lose any customers and we knew that we couldn’t be taken to court, basically we had nothing to lose.” 

Even though “a hell of a lot of people” reacted negatively, Brown says many more have been supportive. 

When asked if there was anything he would change for future campaigns, he said he would again turn to advertising experts.

“If I’m honest with you, I don’t see much life span in this campaign as it is. Hopefully now we can continue this interest by going in another direction.”

All posts from this campaign have now been removed from the company’s social media sites. It has also issued an apology to anyone offended.

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