Choate, Hall & Stewart Uses Video and Design to Launch Innovative New Recruitment Web Site

7/24/2007

Site integrates reality-TV style vignettes, professionally acted commercial videos, vintage film footage, and humor

Boston, MA

The Boston law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP today launched an innovative new recruitment Web site that integrates reality-TV style vignettes, professionally acted commercial videos, vintage film footage, and a healthy dose of humor. The goal of the new recruitment site is to communicate the many benefits of working at Choate—compared to some of the impersonal mega law firms that Choate competes with—in a whimsical and engaging way that young attorneys can relate to.

“Law firms don’t typically come to mind when people think of creative, out-of-the-box Web sites and marketing,” said William Gelnaw and John Nadas, co-managing partners at Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP. “We wanted to break that mold.”

The new recruitment Web site was created by Washington, DC-based Greenfield/Belser and includes three main sections:

• Choate vs. “Megafirm” Clips – Four professionally acted commercial videos highlight, in a lighthearted and funny way, what it’s like to work at Choate. The clips showcase two actors – one playing an associate from Choate and another playing an associate from “Megafirm” – bantering about life at their two firms. The themes cover Choate’s key recruiting messages: Choate associates get to do meaningful work early in their career, Choate associates have some say in their choice of practice group, Choate respects the boundaries between work and personal life, and the value of working at a firm with one office.

• Choate Vignettes – A series of reality-TV style clips profile Choate’s attorneys musing about Choate’s culture, the work environment at Choate, and why associates should choose the firm. For example, some of the videos on the recruitment site include: a day in the life of two associates, three Choate lawyers together on a conference call in which the roll call for “Megafirm” goes on forever, Choate’s “Pizza Night” with associates debating who makes the best pizza in Boston, and an associate interviewing students in the firm’s pro-bono Citizen’s Schools program. In another series of 15 videos, summer and young associates take turns talking about something interesting they do outside of the firm. These clips provide a look at the diverse group of people who work at Choate. The series was shot with a red (Choate’s brand color) leather club chair, which was dubbed the “Choate Chair,” and now has a place of honor in the firm’s library.

• Vintage Film Footage – Silly film footage from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s is creatively combined with added voiceovers or title cards to reinforce Choate’s core recruitment messages. One spot called “The Horrible Boss” shows a silent slapstick comedian jumping around, ripping his hair out, and screaming. Intermittent title cards explain: “The boss you fear,” “You won’t find here,” and “The coast is clear.”

“We take our clients and recruitment of the best and brightest very seriously, but we try not to take ourselves too seriously,” added Gelnaw and Nadas. “We wanted to give law students a real, personal, and engaging look at our firm and we are thrilled with the result.”

Choate’s new recruitment Web site is part of an overall redesign of its firm Web site. Choate last revamped its Web site two years ago when the firm introduced its new brand identity. The new site continues to build on the firm’s award winning brand – Choate won three first place “Your Honor” awards from the Legal Marketing Association in 2006 for its strong brand identity program.

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