The day before Halloween, staffers at Klick Health were busy decking the halls of the agency’s Toronto office with all the fixings of Christmas.
There were gift-wrapped presents, strings of lights and ugly sweaters. It was a strange scene, given the timing, but so go the logistics of production. For the past five years Klick has produced a holiday video and this year YouTuber Zach King set aside Oct. 30 to lead the production.
Online, King is best known for his webby brand of magic. His Vine and YouTube videos, which reach more than six million people each week, are edited to look like he’s doing magic. His mix of slick production tricks and a DIY aesthetic have attracted big name talent including Justin Bieber, who tapped King this fall for his “Sorry” lyric video, in addition to brands like Nike, Lacoste and Chrysler.
King stars in this year’s Klick video alongside the agency’s staffers, accepting the challenge to “magically” decorate the office in a pinch.
Klick’s holiday videos have become a well-publicized tradition. Back in 2010, the agency decided to reinvent its holiday card by releasing a lip dub video that referenced 63 of the year’s most popular memes. When the video gained traction, landing on the front page of CNN.com and a string of other sites, Klick decided to make holiday videos an annual endeavour.
Since then, the videos have run the gamut from homages to beloved Christmas movies to a humorous take on bring your pet to work day. Last year was the first time Klick enlisted a collaborator, YouTuber Andrew Huang, who filmed a clubby remix of “Jingle Bells” at the company’s office.
Klick co-founder and CEO Leerom Segal said he sees the videos as a chance to show Klick’s culture to clients and potential employees. When the holidays approach, he said clients now ask about the videos. The buzz around them allows talent scouts for the agency to open a dialogue with potential recruits, he said.
Glenn Zujew, executive creative director at Klick Health, added that producing the videos also helped Klick develop its video capabilities over the years and has driven client interest in video projects. When clients see the videos, he said they often ask for something similar for their own companies.
Though client work and recruitment are bonuses, Zujew said the company continues the tradition primarily because of its impact on Klick’s culture.
“The end game for this is that if people are having fun, they do better work,” Zujew said, explaining culture-boosters like the Christmas video help keep morale up and turnover down.
“If we’re a company that’s going to invest time and effort into doing something like this, we’re going to get the best out of our people.”
