In 2025, Gen Z is expected to make up 27% of the workforce. As LinkedIn’s fastest-growing audience segment, they represent a major opportunity for the platform’s continued growth. However, there remained a gap in visitation intent between Gen Z and previous generations — meaning that while young professionals were aware of LinkedIn, they weren’t engaging with it as frequently due to a lack of understanding the platform’s value.
We set out to change that by designing content that would resonate with Gen Z, showing them that LinkedIn is not just relevant but essential in their career journey. Our approach was rooted in learning: we created an instructional video series that helped young professionals understand how to engage with the platform, demonstrating the value of LinkedIn’s new immersive video feature as a go-to source for career insights.
Our three main objectives:
To do this, we needed a fresh approach to content that had the ability to hook Gen Z, while still positioning LinkedIn as a credible and valuable source of career knowledge, now and going forward.
Since its introduction on LinkedIn in 2017, video has become the platform’s fastest-growing format, with a 34% increase in uploads and 40% more engagement than written posts. The launch of LinkedIn’s immersive video feature — allowing users to browse content, watch videos in full-screen, and swipe vertically — created the perfect opportunity to instruct audiences on how to find videos that contain valuable ‘know-how’ on LinkedIn.
With research showing that 60 seconds of video is equivalent to reading nearly 1.8 million words (Forrester), we leaned into microlearning — snackable, high-impact content designed to teach something useful in under a minute. Our strategic proposition became: “Credible know-how, in a bite-sized package — wherever and whenever.”
To engage Gen Z, we needed a video-led, social-first approach that brought career advice to life in an entertaining and memorable way. A key challenge was maintaining LinkedIn’s credibility, while balancing it with a creative approach that felt native to the social platforms they already use.
‘Know-How That Sticks’ was designed to make career advice more engaging for young professionals by tapping into a popular sticker trend and blending humour with real, expert-led career guidance. The three-part series tackled key moments in a young protagonist’s journey: finding the right job, succeeding in interviews, and speaking up confidently in meetings, delivered by trusted LinkedIn Creators.
To reflect the often overwhelming amount of advice Gen Z encounters online, in each episode we introduced quirky animated talking stickers that humorously exaggerated conflicting guidance. Bombarded by the noise, the LinkedIn branded sticker provides a voice of reason, instructing (and reassuring) the protagonist that they can get trusted advice from credible professionals via LinkedIn’s immersive videos. Each episode wrapped up with the message: “Get the right know-how, from the right people.”
We also wanted to make sure we reached our target audience effectively, so we ran the campaign on paid social media, meeting them where they regularly consume content.
The ‘Know-How That Sticks’ instructional video series provided young professionals with practical, career-focused knowledge. Using Kantar’s Context Labs, we were able to see a successful increase in LinkedIn's visibility amongst the Gen Z audience and reinforcement in its perceived value as an essential resource for their career journey.
Additionally, the campaign achieved a 72% enjoyment rate, well above the UK norm of 51%. This highlighted a key learning for us: the approachable and engaging tone of the content resonated strongly with the younger audience, creating a connection that we’ll continue to build on in future content.
Overall, the campaign was a success, driving measurable increases in brand awareness, perceived career value, and visitation intent, while providing valuable learnings for how to craft content that truly connects with young professionals for the future.
