Redballoon.work - "When I grow up" (2023) :40 (USA)

Way back in 1999, "Monsters.com", a job board website firmly planted its odd brand name in the American consciousness with an ad that soon went globally viral, it was called "When I grow up". A simple black and white choddy, where kids were brutally honest about their future career prospects where they could "claw their way up to middle management" and "file all day". This ad became so famous, that people and brands created relentless parodies of it, including Fox who announced their shows in this way in 2004.

Fast forward twenty-four years and it's time to do another parody, this time with a satirical twist. Apparently, the "cultural war" in the United States between different political leanings has permeated every waking aspect of their lives. Including searching for jobs and not buying lite beers. Enter Redballoon.work, a job board where employers can find "values-aligned job-seekers". Alright, fair enough, that's a USP one can lean into - it's just a shame that the only way to announce it was to parody a twenty-four year old ad. Have we run out of new ideas? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate good parodies of old ads as much as the next guy, but at times I remember that the punter probably isn't as well-versed in advertising history as we are, and it all looks like navel-gazing in the end.

On the bright side, it's also old-school short edit and not a three-minute meandering manifesto ad with bad jokes that younger ad-generation seem so fond of.

Ad agency: The BiG Agency
CCO: Brett Craig