New agency video instructs staff to not be slobs

JKM News Jul 05, 2011

Could it have been the stack of plates teetering like the great Tower of Pisa? Perhaps it was the scavenger hunt for coffee cups, reminiscent of many an Easter morning. Or maybe, just maybe, it was that rim rejection of a tossed milkshake from 3-point land. It’s hard to pinpoint what the catalyst was, but the thinkers at JAN Kelley knew it was time to take action. For the good of the agency…nay, for the good of the advertising industry, it was time to ensure the environment within JAN Kelley Marketing would be rightly respected for generations to come.

It was then that the idea for a hard-hitting internal PSA was borne.

Inspired by an infamous “Keep America Beautiful” PSA from the ‘70s, the JAN Kelley internal spot also aims to shame the littering offenders into changing their behaviours. While the original ad entitled, “The Crying Indian”, had the benefit of an incredibly politically incorrect stereotype combined with a seemingly racist climax to ensure memorability, the JAN Kelley installment appears to be working. Less than 24 hours after the release, the tearful confessions have come pouring in.

“I once crushed a pop can and filed it with some old status reports,” claimed an account coordinator.

“I ate 2 pounds of chicken wings and left the bones on the kitchen counter, figuring someone else would take care of them,” sobbed a member of the IT department.

“I felt guilty about eating my third Mars bar, so I jammed the last half in the printer’s toner compartment,” confessed studio manager, Roger Gonsalves.

One can only hope that the effectiveness of the JAN Kelley campaign can capture a shred of the success the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign had in the ‘70s. “I think it’s a great spot to use as inspiration,” says Account Director, Krista Kay. “Thanks to that spot you can practically eat off the sidewalk these days in Buffalo.”