Funny Videos

In Hilarious Video, Ad Agency Thanks Employees by Letting Them Do This...For, Like, a Whole Minute

Former West Coast Editor

November 6, 2014 2 min read

At Union ad agency, family and friends come first. Well, after clients and revenue. And, yeah, after awards, too. Because, you know, awards are important. Sometimes more important than people.

The Toronto creative firm behind a few Colgate, Kraft and Revlon campaigns you might recall, had a little warped fun patting itself on the back -- and the backs of its evidently very hard-working hirelings -- in a hilarious video making the rounds this week.

The two-minute crackup is the latest tongue-in-cheek slap in a rash of videos that skewer the ad machine’s notoriously all work, no sleep work ethic. And what a zinger of a slap it is. It’s totally worth a watch, particularly if you’re really busy working… as you should be, minion!

In case you’re wondering why Union bothered to create such silliness, the “twisted take on employee appreciation day” is really just a humblebrag. Consider it the company’s kooky way of trumpeting its inclusion in Strategy Magazine’s 2014 shortlist for Agency of the Year (which, by the way, it didn’t win).

Union’s people didn’t pull off a big-time industry nod like that screwing off, er, making silly videos for the hell of it. Why they earned it with good, old overtime and “blood, sweat and tears,” darnit. And, yadda, yadda, “put in countless hours and worked around the clock” to make it happen. At least that’s what their bearded boss-man Subtej Nijjar says in the clip.

Just how did Nijjar and fellow Union partner Lance Martin thank their hard workers? They surprised them with a school bus and something they’d probably forgotten existed. Sorry, no spoiler alerts here. You’ll have to watch the video to find out. Don’t worry, it’s not NSFW.

Prepare thy laugh muscles and press play. Here goes: