Summary[edit]
In 2014, fresh out of the University of Sussex, Will Bower was trying to break into advertising, a notoriously difficult industry to get a foot in, and had applied for more than 100 jobs without success. Rather than sending another CV, he filmed a parody job application in character as David Brent from The Office. The video, part of a campaign he called RecruitWill, was picked up by Ricky Gervais, who posted it to his own Facebook page, and covered by national and trade press, becoming Bower's first widely recognised viral campaign.[1]
Campaign[edit]
RecruitWill was conceived as a self-promotion campaign rather than a standalone video. Instead of submitting conventional job applications, Bower created a fictional graduate recruitment campaign around himself, using the character of David Brent from The Office.
The campaign centred on a parody job application video, but extended far beyond the film itself. Bower built a dedicated website, RecruitWill.com, and delivered branded cupcakes carrying QR codes to managing directors at leading London advertising agencies. He also ran Google Ads targeting the names of senior advertising executives, meaning that when they searched for themselves, they were greeted by personalised adverts such as: "Hi Michael, searching for yourself again? I'm searching for a job."
The campaign attracted coverage from national newspapers and marketing trade publications before being shared by Ricky Gervais on his official Facebook page, significantly increasing its audience.[2] The combination of video, digital advertising, direct marketing and public relations would later become a defining feature of Bower's approach to creative campaigns.
Gallery[edit]
Aftermath[edit]
The success of RecruitWill led to Bower securing a position at London advertising agency VCCP. Although he had hoped to join the creative department, he was instead placed within the accounts team.
After approximately one month, Bower left the agency, later describing the role and daily commute as confirmation that he wanted to build his own career rather than follow a traditional agency path.
The publicity generated by RecruitWill also resulted in training company QA commissioning Bower to front a national graduate recruitment campaign.[5] It was his first commercial project to arise directly from his own creative work, and marked the beginning of his career in marketing, preceding the launch of Selfie Factory, TikScript and his later YouTube projects.
References[full press archive]
Original campaign
RecruitWill (campaign website), the RecruitWill video, and the original David Brent video were all named as sources but I do not have working links for any of them, if they still exist anywhere (Wayback Machine, an old upload, anything), send them over and they go in here.
National coverage
- Daily Mirror. "Watch: graduate's hilarious David Brent job application". 2014.
- Metro. "Graduate channels The Office's David Brent in bid to bag job". 2014.
- The Argus. "Graduate goes extra mile with David Brent video". 2014.
- Daily Mail. "Desperate graduate's video interview as comedy boss David Brent went viral... now Ricky Gervais fan bags dream job in advertising". 2014.
- The Drum. "QA turns viral sensation Will Bower to promote its programme". 2014.
- Campaign. "Fish Bowl". 2014.
- JOE.ie. "Brilliant David Brent inspired CV is sure to land this lad a job". 2014.
- Human Resources Director. "Lighter side: Graduate channels David Brent". 2014.
- HCAMag. "Lighter side: Graduate channels David Brent" (NZ edition). 2014.
- Creativepool. Coverage of the RecruitWill campaign and its aftermath.
The Tab
- The Tab. "Friend first, boss second: Unemployed grad channels Brent for job". 2014.
- The Tab Sussex. "Desperate postgrad grovels for work impersonating Ricky Gervais... and gets a job". 2014.
Later references
- GradJobs. "Can't find a job? Just go viral!"
- LinkedIn. "How To Make A National News Story", Will Bower's own account of the campaign.
