We created a neighborhood. Here’s what happened when the community showed up.

What started as an ambitious creative idea became a good reminder of what great branding, great teams, and great communities have in common: people.

Gina Alioto, Head of Brand and Marketing

This year, Shaker returned to RecFest USA as the Headline Partner. It followed up our activation “A Journey Through the Eras of Recruitment Marketing,” which kicked off Shaker’s 75^th anniversary celebration and earned a Stevie Award. So, the bar was high. And honestly, I love that kind of pressure; the kind that pushes you toward something that really moves people. So, we asked ourselves: how can we build on last year’s experience, show the depth and breadth of what Shaker offers, and cultivate the same level of belonging and fun that we’ve become known for?

This year, we aimed to do three things: create a place where everyone feels connected and easily connect with the depth of what Shaker brings to our industry across employer branding, recruitment marketing, and talent acquisition.

Welcome to the Shaker Neighborhood

You know that neighborhood store you love? The one where somebody remembers you, knows what you like, and somehow always has exactly what you came in for? (Cue Cheers music).

That’s the feeling we envisioned to achieve through this concept.

I’m from Brooklyn. My neighborhood is my happy place. The best ones have personality, familiar faces, and services you trust. Every storefront has its own character. The people behind the counter know their business, and everybody knows somebody who can help you find what you need.

More importantly, you feel like you belong there. It’s a part of you.

A community is what makes a neighborhood. And a good neighborhood gives back to the community that built it.

Talent leaders today are navigating employer branding, talent attraction, technology, analytics, AI, and an increasingly complicated landscape of partners and platforms. Each discipline has its own specialists, language, tools, and priorities.

But your business doesn’t experience those things separately. Neither do your candidates.

We wanted to make that whole picture easier to understand, more approachable, and a lot more fun because, frankly, we all need that right now.

So we built a main street with four storefronts.

Branding Bazaar was stocked with employer branding essentials, helping organizations figure out what makes them different, how to tell their story, and whether the outside world is hearing the story they think they’re telling.

Talent Attraction Trading Post was a place to exchange ideas about reaching the right talent. We even had fresh fruit to grab on the way out. A somethin’ somethin’ for the road.

Martech Market was the place to find tools and tech that make talent marketing run smarter. More tools don’t always mean better results. Sometimes it just means you have more tools.

Analytics Apothecary had the strategic insights to get down to the numbers. What’s working? What’s wasting money? What should you do next? Answers backed by evidence, with a little old-fashioned apothecary charm.

And then there was The Partner Post, highlighting the breadth of our partners across media, technology, and global services. With the number of platforms and providers out there, finding the right combination can feel like a full-time job. Our partnerships team does that homework, helping clients make thoughtful choices based on their actual needs.

Each storefront had its own personality, its own experts, and something valuable to offer.

But the most important thing was how they worked together.

From my view, that’s how great branding and marketing works. When vision, strategy, creative, media, technology, and measurement understand each other, the whole experience gets better. From the first concept, our team loved building each touchpoint that brought this vision to life. But what truly makes a neighborhood are the people. And you showed up. You exchanged ideas, compared what’s keeping you up at night, and found out you weren’t the only ones dealing with it. And, if you needed, there were Shaker experts there to help you navigate it. Just as we have for global brands for seven decades of change.

And, that’s the stuff we live for.

The conversation needed a shake-up

While all of this was happening in the neighborhood, our VP of Digital, Sara Hartmann, took the stage with Stef Nikitas, Allison Kruse, and Tammy Embry for a panel called The Funnel Isn’t Dead. It’s Missing the Point.

Now, I love a good marketing framework. I’ve built plenty of them.

But here’s something worth remembering: your candidates have absolutely no idea they’re in your “funnel”.

They’re trying to find a job.

They’re wondering whether your company is a good place to work, whether the salary is worth their time, whether they’ll be treated well, and whether the application is going to take 20 minutes they don’t have.

Sara and the panel challenged us to look at the experience from the candidate’s point of view.

One example really stood out. A med tech company created a four-minute video showing candidates exactly what it was like to work in a role that required full sterile gowning.

They got fewer applicants. And better ones. They also saw far less early attrition.

Sometimes your best branding and marketing helps someone decide not to apply.

The panel also explored how organizations can use their existing data to identify gaps, understand different talent segments, and make better decisions about where to invest.

Sara said it best:

“Start with your own information. We, as TA or HR leaders, are always talking about the funnel, but most candidates never see it or know what it is; all they know is what they’re experiencing and seeing in that moment. Use your own data and application process to identify gaps, and from there it becomes clearer where to optimize and invest in the experience.”

–Sara Hartmann

My takeaway? Before you spend another dollar trying to move people through your funnel, take a good look at what it’s like to be one of those people.

And yes, there were Dolly Parton references. We were in Nashville, after all.

They led the crowd in what quickly became the unofficial soundtrack of RecFest USA 2026. If you were there, you know. If you weren’t, watching the full panel recording below will fill you in.

🎙️ Catch the full panel recording here.

The neighborhood had a podcast studio, too

Me (Gina Alioto) and Diana Turnbough in The Podcast Zone!

One of my favorite parts of events is getting people together who have very different perspectives on the same industry.

That’s why we brought back The Podcast Zone.

Over two days, we sat down with clients, partners, and talent leaders to talk about what they’re seeing inside their organizations.

AI (obviously). Candidate experience. Retention. Technology. The things keeping leaders up at night and the ideas giving them some hope for what’s next.

What I appreciate most about these conversations is that nobody has to pretend they’ve figured everything out.

Some of the smartest people I know are the first to admit they’re still learning.

We wanted to give those voices a place to be heard, capture their perspectives, and share them with people who couldn’t be there in person.

Because a good conversation continues far beyond the event’s end.

Stay tuned for all the episodes to be released soon!

Ask Shaker Anything, live from the neighborhood

Then we flipped the “Open” sign around and took the neighborhood online. We gave the experts behind our storefronts an opportunity to talk about their roles and working together in The Shaker Neighborhood in Ask Shaker Anything, our LinkedIn live stream.

I hosted, and each expert represented a different corner of main street: Shavon Banket, Joe Nassar, Sara Hartmann, Chris Cicmanec, and Megan Tracy. Out on the festival floor, the storefronts each had their own personality. On the stream, you got to see what really makes them work: they don’t operate alone. Branding, talent attraction, martech, and analytics work like neighbors who know each other well, each one making the others stronger. Together, they help organizations reach their goals.

That’s what I hoped people would get from the live stream: practical advice from people who know their disciplines, understand how they fit together, and genuinely want to help.

🎥 Watch the full live stream here.

See you next time, neighbor!

From the storefronts to the studio to the live stream, it was all one neighborhood. Thank you to everyone who visited, in person or online. You’re the reason it feels like home. And to the RecFest USA team, thank you for making our return as Headline Partner unforgettable.

Our brand and marketing team (particularly Callie, Kate, Kelly, and Ellia) brought the concept to life with imagination, taste, and an extraordinary amount of care. Our subject matter experts (Amanda, Shavon, Joe Nassar, Sara, Chris, Megan, Sheila) brought the knowledge and generosity that gave every storefront a reason to exist. Our clients, partners, and industry friends brought their valuable experiences and perspectives.

And you brought the neighborhood to life.

Every conversation, introduction, laugh, and exchange of ideas added something we couldn’t have designed ourselves.

To Jamie, Bobby, Lorna and the RecFest USA team, thank you for giving us another opportunity to do something wonderfully ambitious together.

And to our Shaker team, I’m so proud of what we created. You took an idea on paper and turned it into a living, breathing neighborhood.

We already have ideas for what comes next. Of course we do.

But first, I’d love to hear from you.

If you’re ready to bring some of that neighborhood energy into your own talent marketing, come on over. Our door is always open.

Want to chat more about branding and marketing? Connect with me on LinkedIn!

All photography: SVC – Shared Vision Communications