Jung von Matt 5 | SunMatrix Ramble

Draftfcb: In Your Face Recruitment Hack

Draftfcb Germany is the latest ad agency to join the trend of tactically using social media for recruitment. In this case, they use Facebook’s redesigned profile layout to spread their hiring needs to a highly targeted advertising audience.

Recruitment message, delivered as a profile takeover

The mechanism is a simple interface hijack. Instead of posting a job ad and hoping people click, the recruitment message is built into the profile itself, so anyone landing on it experiences the “In Your Face” moment immediately. It is native to the platform, and it travels through the same social graph pathways as any other profile view.

In competitive hiring markets, social recruiting works best when the message shows up inside the places people already browse, rather than asking them to switch into “job search mode.”

Why it lands

This is not a deep story. It is a sharp pattern interrupt. That means the familiar Facebook profile suddenly behaves like a recruitment billboard, which makes the message easy to recognize and easy to forward to the right peers. The profile becomes the ad unit, the ad unit becomes a talking point, and the talking point becomes a referral engine as people share it with the exact peers who might fit.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a recruitment message to spread inside a community, put it where the community already looks, and make the first two seconds instantly legible without requiring a click.

The real question is whether the profile itself can carry the hiring message strongly enough to spread through the right creative network without needing a click. This is a smart recruitment move because it converts ordinary profile views into immediate message delivery and referral fuel.

Recruitment moves worth borrowing

Use the platform’s default surfaces. If the profile is the most-viewed asset, make that the canvas.
Design for “seen in passing.” The message should register at scroll speed.
Make it referable. The best recruitment creative gives insiders something easy to forward to insiders.
Keep it role-specific. If you want a “select advertising audience,” avoid generic “we’re hiring” language.
Respect the line. If the takeover feels spammy or deceptive, it damages employer brand more than it helps.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “In Your Face” in one sentence?

It is a Draftfcb Germany recruitment idea that turns Facebook’s profile layout into a visual hiring message that spreads through normal profile views and shares.

Why use a profile takeover instead of a standard job post?

Because it removes friction and increases certainty. The viewer immediately understands the intent without leaving the platform or clicking through.

What makes this tactic “targeted”?

It travels through an industry social graph. The people most likely to see it are connected to the agency, its staff, or the wider creative community.

What is the biggest risk with this approach?

Novelty decay. Once the trick is familiar, it stops being a conversation piece, so the idea needs either a short run or variations.

What should you measure if you do something similar?

Qualified inbound candidates, referral volume from employees and peers, share rate inside relevant networks, and sentiment about the employer brand.

WWF: The .wwf Unprintable PDF Format

German ad agency Jung von Matt is back with another stellar idea. A new green file format called .WWF.

The WWF format is a PDF-like document that is designed not to print. The point is simple: avoid unnecessary printing by making the “do I really need paper for this?” decision explicit at the moment you save or share a file.

How the .wwf idea works

At the center is a small tool that lets you “save as WWF”. The resulting file behaves like a regular PDF for reading and sharing, but the print option is blocked by design. In other words, it is a familiar format with one permission deliberately switched off.

WWF frames this as a practical nudge within its broader “think before you print” message. It is not trying to shame printing. It is trying to stop the default reflex of printing what never needed to exist on paper in the first place.

In document-heavy organizations, small defaults like a print-disabled file option reduce waste because they change the decision moment without changing the workflow.

Why this lands beyond the gimmick

It turns a values statement into a product behavior. Plenty of sustainability campaigns ask people to care. This one asks people to choose differently in a place they already spend time: saving, sharing, and circulating documents.

Extractable takeaway: When you want less waste, change the default at the moment of action, and keep an intentional override for the few cases that truly need it.

The real question is whether you can make “think before you print” feel like a normal workflow choice, not a policy fight.

It preserves user choice. The format does not decide what “should” be printed. It pushes the decision back to the sender, who knows the context. That framing matters, because it avoids the “policy tool” vibe and keeps it as a lightweight, voluntary habit.

It spreads by forwarding. A file format is distribution. When people send documents around, the format travels with the content and keeps reintroducing the idea in a natural, non-media-buy way.

Steal this pattern for document workflows

Change the default, not the lecture. If you want different behavior, move the intervention into the everyday step where the behavior happens.
Make the “good choice” feel like a normal choice. Keep the action one click away and compatible with existing habits.
Design for shareability. Tools and formats can be media when they travel inside the work people already exchange.
Define the mechanism in one sentence. “A .wwf file is essentially a PDF with printing permissions locked, saved under a different extension to force a conscious print decision.”

A few fast answers before you act

What is a .wwf file, in plain terms?

A .wwf file is a PDF-style document saved with a different extension and configured so that printing is blocked by default.

Is it truly impossible to print a .wwf document?

The intent is to block the normal print command, not to claim physical impossibility in every edge case. The point is to remove the easy, mindless print path.

How is this different from just using a “do not print” note?

A note is social friction. A format change is functional friction. The latter works even when people ignore instructions.

Where does this work best?

In teams that pass around drafts, read-only decks, internal updates, agendas, and reference documents. Anywhere printing is mostly habit, not requirement.

What is the real behavior change goal?

To make printing a deliberate act again. The win is fewer automatic prints, not zero printing.

MINI: Getaway Stockholm 2010

After their recent Talent Poaching via Facebook Places campaign, Jung von Matt is back with the MINI Getaway Stockholm 2010 campaign.

The premise is a reality game that challenges you to do the impossible: stay at least 50 metres away from everybody else in Stockholm city between October 31st and November 7th 2010. If you succeed, you win the new MINI Countryman.

A city-wide game disguised as a launch

This is not a typical “watch and forget” film. It is a product introduction that behaves like a week-long public challenge, using the city as the playing field and social friction as the difficulty setting. Here, “social friction” means the everyday collisions and proximity of city life that make distance hard to maintain.

The mechanic that makes it feel impossible

Mechanically, the campaign turns distance into drama: the rule is simple, but enforcing it in a dense capital city is the whole point. Every street corner becomes a decision, and every near-miss becomes part of the story players tell afterwards.

In European automotive launches, turning a product message into a participatory public challenge is a reliable way to earn attention without leaning on price or specs.

Why this breaks through

Most launches compete on features. This one competes on behavior. It gives people a clear goal, a clear constraint, and a clear reward, then lets the public generate the content through their attempts to win. Because the rule forces constant micro-decisions in public space, it creates tension that keeps spectators watching and participants talking. A constraint-led public game beats a feature-led launch when you need sustained talk value. The real question is whether your launch can earn attention by making the public do the storytelling.

Extractable takeaway: If you can express your launch as one repeatable rule plus one real-world constraint, you turn passive awareness into a week of attempts, near-misses, and shareable stories.

The business intent behind the play

The obvious headline is the prize, but the deeper intent is talk value and repeated engagement over a full week. By “talk value,” I mean the likelihood people will mention it to others and keep the story alive. A launch that unfolds day by day creates more chances for people to hear about it, join late, or simply follow along as a spectator.

Launch moves worth copying

Build one rule people can repeat. If the mechanic fits in a single sentence, it spreads faster.
Use a constraint, not just a reward. Difficulty creates stories. Stories create sharing.
Make the environment part of the experience. When the city is the stage, the campaign feels larger than the media.
Stretch the reveal over days. A week-long cadence beats a one-day spike if you want sustained attention.

A few fast answers before you act

What is MINI Getaway Stockholm 2010 in one line?

A week-long reality game in Stockholm with one simple rule and a real prize: stay 50 metres away from everyone else and win a MINI Countryman.

Why does the “50 metres” rule matter?

It turns a basic challenge into something socially and logistically hard in a busy city, which creates tension, stories, and spectator interest.

What makes this feel less like advertising?

The campaign centers on participation and behavior. People engage with the challenge first, and the brand benefits as the enabler of the experience.

What is the transferable lesson for other brands?

If you want attention without shouting, turn your launch into a simple public game with a constraint that generates stories over time.

How do you adapt this pattern without a big prize?

Keep the single repeatable rule, make the constraint genuinely hard in the real world, and use a reward that feels meaningful enough for people to attempt and for others to follow.