The client is so horribly client-y in Teamwork’s great spoofs of the ad business

From Tim Hamilton’s absolute classic “Truth in Advertising” in 2001 to Tubi’s campaign aimed at media buyers last year, few things are funnier to advertising people than films making fun of the business.

Teamwork.com has made a welcome addition to the canon lately with “The Client,” a satirical video series that portrays the typical advertising client in the most truthful—aka, worst—possible light.

The first video (above), released in April, plays like a horror short, with The Client as the ultimate creepy villain, complete with a Dr. Evil-like laugh, as he makes life relentlessly difficult for his agency (or, his preferred term, vendor).

It may be low-hanging fruit, but it’s great nonetheless. And now Teamwork has released a sequel (below), which tells The Client’s origin story. Turns out he has a classic villain’s background—he was once good, but was turned bad. And he used to have some pretty ridiculous hair.

Both videos were made by Chicago-based B2B video marketing agency Umault.

There are some shorter videos on the campaign website, covering all manner of ridiculous demands, impossible deadlines and painful last-minute changes. In all of the content, Teamwork’s sales pitch at the end is delivered with a wink as well—very well handled, as B2B campaigns go.

“When the first video took off, we kept getting asked, ‘What’s next?’ A sequel was expected, so staying true to our original brief about being unexpected, we created a prequel, featuring a dodgy wig,” said Jenny Hayes, head of brand at Teamwork.com.

“The original video was built out of a deep understanding of what mattered to our customers and what we offered as a platform, and it struck a chord. This early success meant it was important that we scale this concept beyond a two-part series and build a fully integrated campaign around our new lovable villain. Who knows where we’ll take him next or how outrageous he might become?!”

Teamwork.com describes itself as “the only platform built for managing client projects profitably ... built to help you manage even the most client-ey clients.” Headquartered in Cork, Ireland, it has additional hubs in Belfast, Denver and Gdansk, Poland.

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