HotJobs.com Announces 3rd Consecutive Super Bowl Buy, Launches New National Television Campaign

http://news.excite.com:80/news/pr/001010/ny-hotjobs-superbowl

NEW YORK /PRNewswire/ — HotJobs.com today announced that it will purchase four 30-second advertising spots in Super Bowl XXXV, which will be held January 28, 2001 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and broadcast on the CBS Network. The commitment marks the third consecutive Super Bowl in which HotJobs.com will have an advertising presence, and is the largest thus far for this top-rated online recruiting solutions company.

“We are huge fans of the Super Bowl,” said Richard Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, HotJobs.com. “Our decision in 1999 to gamble half of our company’s revenue on a single Super Bowl spot was a move that put us on the map and has clearly paid off. Our repeat performance in 2000 further drove brand recognition and established HotJobs.com as a formidable player in the online recruiting space. Our return on investment from site traffic to overall brand awareness- has been tremendous thus far, and we expect that to continue.”

Last year’s “Hottest Hand on the Web(TM)” campaign was a marketing success story for HotJobs.com, resulting in spikes in daily page-views, banner ad impressions, and new resume postings. Sustained traffic on Super Bowl Sunday 2000 was at least three times higher than any other day in the company’s history, with page-view numbers rocketing to an estimated 2.6 million. Additionally, the number of new resumes coming into the system soared to a rate of 1 every 2.4 seconds. Today more than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies use at least one HotJobs.com product for their recruiting needs.

Hotjobs’ four-spot Super Bowl commitment includes one commercial during the game and three during the pre-game broadcast. The new television campaign is developed by Weiss Stagliano Partners, New York, who were awarded the branding and advertising account following an agency search in August of this year.

“The new campaign is designed to stake Hotjobs.com’s claim on a higher, more distinctive ground than others in their category,” explained Lindsey Evans, Joint Managing Director at WSP. “Rather than playing to people’s anxiety, we acknowledge their personal achievements and encourage them to believe in their own inner drive. Hotjobs.com aims to inspire and motivate people to pursue their next level.”

The first spot leading up to and through the Super Bowl broke nationwide on Tuesday, October 3, 2000 during the series premier of Dark Angel, airing on FOX. The spot, ‘Swim,’ features dramatic footage of hundreds of sperm with their eyes on the ultimate prize. With the action propelled by Wagner’s anthemic “Flight of the Valkyrie,” the camera hones in on one hero sperm that makes its way up to the egg and fights its way in. The spot culminates with the line, ‘The attitude that got you here, can get you anywhere.’ The second commercial in the campaign will break in mid-October, featuring different imagery but a similar positive message.

“We employ a very simple, metaphoric idea to convey a very simple, inspirational message,” said Marty Weiss, WSP Chief Creative Officer. “It’s not just about getting noticed, though no doubt it will; it’s about communicating a smart idea in the most forceful way.”

The commercials introduce the company’s new signature, ‘HotJobs — Onward. Upward,’ designed to convey an assertively optimistic and encouraging brand position and voice.

“Our campaign will build momentum as we head toward our biggest presence yet in a Super Bowl game,” said Marc Karasu, HotJobs.com’s Director of Advertising. “We are confident that our new advertising and communications will further solidify our position as the creative, innovative leader in the Internet recruitment space.”

HotJobs.com is a leading Internet-based recruiting solutions company that provides a direct exchange of information between job seekers and employers. Over 6,000 member employers subscribe to the HotJobs.com online employment exchange, http://www.hotjobs.com. HotJobs.com also provides employers with additional recruiting solutions, such as its Resumix(R), Softshoe(R) hiring management software, WorkWorld(TM) career expos, and online advertising and consulting services. HotJobs.com recently completed an acquisition of Silicon Valley-based Resumix, Inc., which will combine HotJobs.com’s award-winning technology and Resumix’s enhanced hiring management systems.

“Safe Harbor” Statement Under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: Statements in HotJobs.com’s release that are not strictly historical are “forward looking” statements which are subject to the many risks and uncertainties that exist in the Company’s operations and business environment. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the Company’s limited operating history, history of losses and anticipation of continued losses, potential volatility of quarterly operating results, the ability to successfully implement the Company’s expansion plans, risks related to the Internet, risks related to legal uncertainty and other risks which are set forth in more detail in the Company’s most recent report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 14, 2000, as well as other reports and documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact: Fianna Sogomonyan of HotJobs.com, 212-699-5316, fianna@HotJobs.com; or Peter Himler of Burson-Marsteller, 212-614-4082, Peter_Himler@nyc.bm.com; or Lindsey Evans of WSP, 212-255-3900, lindsey@wspworld.com