Our latest HRintelligence eNewsletter has been distributed and it is chock full of industry intelligence, commentary and analysis for HR service providers and we’ve included some of the highlights below.
Top Advertisers for September
Top advertisers, listed alphabetically below, are determined by measuring advertising placements across the major monthly HR trade publications, not including buyer guide or product directory listings.
- ADP
- Aetna
- Aflac
- American Dental Association
- Delta Dental
- Guardian Life Insurance
- MetLife
- Monster.com
- Mutual of Omaha
- VSP
Commentary and Analysis: We've noticed a steady increase over the past few months in advertising from benefits and health insurance companies in many of the top HR trades where they are promoting their products and services. Because of the exorbitant costs of employee health care (and it continues to skyrocket), employers are searching for cost-effective alternatives like consumer-driven health care benefits, flexible spending accounts (FSA's) and Healthcare Spending Accounts (HSA's) for their employees, and many benefits providers are answering those calls with new products and services. In fact, increasing numbers of benefits providers realize that the human resource department is now a powerful gatekeeper to virtually all other departments in an organization, from department heads to the executive management team to the boardroom, and are held accountable to the bottom line. Another category that has seen an increase in advertising is gift cards - from coffee to electronics - as employers are becoming increasingly comfortable using gift cards for a variety of purposes beyond just employee recognition.
Top Editorial Placements for September
To determine the organizations receiving the most media coverage, we look at the number of non-paid editorial placements across the major monthly HR trade publications.
- Aetna
- Aon
- Employee Benefit Research Institute
- Hewitt Associates
- IBM
- Mercer Human Resource Consulting
- Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
- SHRM
- Towers Perrin
- Watson Wyatt
Commentary and Analysis: Companies that consistently secure media placements in the major HR trades do so by offering current, newsworthy information such as trend data and statisics from new research. This is one reason why firms like Hewitt, Mercer, Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt and organizations like SHRM, EBRI and PBGC have such high visibility. We are well aware that most HR suppliers cannot possibly expect to match the research output of the above mentioned firms, but HR suppliers can do a much better job at including more "newsworthy" information in their press releases. Whether they realize it or not, most every HR supplier is sitting on a wealth of useful and interesting data. For example, HR suppliers that market employee benefit administration software can data mine their logs this Fall to report on such things as percentage of employees who use online enrollment options, demographic correlations, what time of the day/week/month they logon to make their selections, how long it takes to complete their enrollment, etc. Regardless of what you sell, you have data that journalists will find interesting. You just need to be a little creative (and get cooperation from your IT) to data mine the information and work it into your press releases. But it is worth the effort if you want to secure more print media placements.
Look for our “Current Health of the Human Capital Marketplace” blog posting coming very soon...