Elemental‘s latest self-promo effort is an exercise in self-parody.
The four-part web series, The Brief, launched Tuesday and takes inspiration from the day-to-day happenings at the Toronto agency. In fact, many of the scenes are based on things that actually happened to series co-creator and copywriter Matt Sadowski.
Sadowski joined Elemental in 2014 after working as an actor and director – he appeared in Dawn of the Dead and played the Green Ranger in the 2005 re-boot of Power Rangers – and wrote the outline for The Brief based on his own experience entering the agency world as a marketing newbie.
In the first episode, for example, a copywriter character spills his lunch all over his pants before a big meeting – a mishap that happened to Sadowski at Elemental.
Sadowski and his co-creator, Elemental partner Dustin Brown, told Marketing they aimed to be as meta as possible, shooting the series at Elemental and nodding to agency tropes like giving the office coffee maker a quirky nickname. (This one’s “Uncle Joey.”)
The series follows two interns as they receive their first brief and eventually pitch to the client. But Mad Men this is not. The show’s sensibilities skew more towards The Office, with knowing winks to the audience.
The Brief stars some familiar faces from Canadian TV, including Michael Seater (Life With Derek, Bomb Girls), David Reale (Suits, Skins), John Boylan (Being Erica, Blue Murder) and Jesse Rath (Defiance, 18 to Life).
The Brief is both a recruiting effort and a showcase of the agency’s content marketing capabilities. Brown said Elemental is using the series to show current and potential clients the potential of scripted, long-form branded content.
Culturally, it was also a chance to show its staff that management is willing to run with their big ideas. “This was our moment to put our money where our mouth was and show if you bring an idea, something fully formed and talk about the benefits and explain what the potential can be, we’re happy to bring it to life,” Brown said.
Elemental has enlisted Rock-It Promotions to handle PR for The Brief. Beyond the ad world, the agency is pitching the series to entertainment press and local Toronto outlets.
It’s also promoting The Brief via YouTube pre-roll. The media buy was handled in-house.
