Shive-Hattery – DSL Portfolio

Shive-Hattery — Instagram for Talent Attraction

b2b social media

Who says B2B isn’t beautiful? Together we built a thought-provoking Instagram campaign to inspire future hires.

Background

Shive-Hattery is a member-owned architecture and engineering design firm with seven offices in the Midwest. With over 100 years in operation, Shive-Hattery is a trusted brand within each community it inhabits.

brief

When the marketing team at Shive-Hattery reached out to Sculpt, they were facing a brand problem. Prospective employees recognized Shive-Hattery for its engineering chops, but not as a design shop. Their HR team struggled to recruit the talented architects they needed to grow.

our approach

We developed a culture-focused Instagram campaign to highlight their values-driven workplace, shed light on exceptional team members, and celebrate the unique offerings at each of their seven offices.

In order to develop a cohesive and engaging campaign that highlighted the stories of Shive-Hattery’s employees, we dug deep into the archives of team and project photos.

To round out the campaign, we filled in the gaps with a mix of on-location stills and remixed headshots. We strategically selected images that showcased the culture and work of the firm, then paired them with captions collected from employee interviews. Since our main focus was to share human-centric stories, we took time to interview employees from every office—from electrical engineers to landscape architects. We sought to create a mix of content that introduced employees authentically.

Scroll below for a snapshot of the content themes.

featured colleagues

These posts highlighted personal journey stories of employees. They were intended to make a potential employee read their story and say “Hey, I learned the same thing when I was in school!” or “My grandpa was my inspiration to become an engineer, too!”

Jenifer Bates has always loved the outdoors. Now she gets to professionally design the trails she so frequently explores in her free time.
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“I see trails through the eyes of an engineer and multiple user types which helps me provide the best design solutions for my clients.”
// Jenifer Bates,
#shivehattery Engineer

“My grandfather, a well-respected architect in Peoria, always spoke highly of engineers. I think he respected them a lot. He gets credit for planting that initial thought in my head.”
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“When explaining my job to my non-engineering friends, I simplify it by saying that I design everything but the building — things like parking lots, utility design and coordination, and on-site drainage solutions.”
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// Caleb Martin,
#shivehattery Civil Engineer

career stories

When we featured career stories, these were typically the more veteran employees who had a lot of experience and wisdom to share. These posts highlighted the longevity of a career with Shive-Hattery.

Thomas Longhi spent the first 19 years of his career working from Chicago. Since his transition to Valparaiso, Indiana, he hasn’t looked back.
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“The Mayor of Valparaiso came in three terms ago and has transformed the city. When I left Chicago for ‘greener pastures’ in Valparaiso, Indiana, I could hardly believe I was going to leave Chicago for Indiana. I went to school in Chicago and had lived in this modern architectural Mecca for 19 years. Now I hardly look back.”
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// Thomas Longhi,
#shivehattery architect

Steve Davis works primarily on projects in the realm of County Justice. One of his favorite projects is the Minnehaha County jail expansion in South Dakota.
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“I’m proud of all of the projects I’ve worked on, because we’ve helped clients in very difficult, and often times dangerous, situations find answers to their justice problems. If I had to pick one though, I’d say the jail expansion project in Minnehaha County South Dakota. It’s a complex project with significant visibility in the community and we were successful being awarded the project against stiff competition.”
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// Steve Davis,
#shivehattery architect

company history and storytelling

Since Shive-Hattery is an over 100 year old firm, they have a storied history to convey. We wanted to present this history in a fresh way, while still holding onto the integrity of it.

#tbt Some things have changed since the 70s, other things have stayed the same — like how great we all look in hard hats.

Since our early days, 1895 to be exact, we’ve believed in providing thoughtful, collaborative and creative solutions for the success of our clients and our communities. + It’s a legacy of our former leaders that we’re proud to continue today and into the future. + // Don Hattery and Jim Shive, 1982

our results

The campaign created a healthy foundation for future Instagram marketing. Starting from scratch, Shive-Hattery acquired 975 followers and generated 4,400 engagements within the first year. The followers were earned organically through proactive outreach with targeted accounts—including regional design firms, associations, and schools.

our impact

The campaign also created value beyond the candidate leads and reach: Shive gained a library of powerful stories and assets they could re-use across recruitment and employer brand initiatives. And for good measure, Shive-Hattery won first place in the Online Marketing category of the Zweig Group Marketing Excellence Awards for the recruitment Instagram campaign.

Ready to grow? We’re ready to go.