100k Experiment
TheLadders.com
Issue 9 | December 2008
Agency
Fallon Minneapolis
Creative Team
Al Kelly - Executive Creative Director;Bobby Appleby - Art Director;Simon Roseblade - Copywriter;Vic Palumbo - Director of Broadcast;Amanda Revere - Producer;
Production Team
Radical Media - Production Company; Derek Cianfrance - Director; Max Goldman - Director of Photography; Gregg Carlessimo - Executive Producer; Veronica Madrigal - Producer; Fallon Assembly Line - Edit Company; Jesse Thompson - Editor
Other Credits
Brendan Lawrence - Director of Business Affairs;David Sigel - Director of Account Management;David Chaffin - Account Director
Date
October 2008
Background
TheLadders.com is the only career site for $100,000+ jobs. Fallon needed to create a campaign that attracted the right people to the sorts of jobs the site filled.
Idea
Fallon decided to conduct a social experiment. They constructed a box with $100,000 in cash and positioned it in a park with nobody to watch over it - except 10 hidden cameras. The conclusion was that $100,000 attracts a lot of people. The message was that TheLadders.com helps companies attract the right people. A DVD of the experiment and a plexi-glass box of money were then sent to recruiters and human resources people across the country.
Our Thoughts
3M did something a bit like this five years ago to show how tough their special glass coating was. This has rather more spin on it than a mere demo, though, because filming everyone who had a go at getting at the $100K revealed that the lure of money can make many of us look pretty unpleasant. So, beware the employer. The people you hire may well be selfish, greedy and destructive. Unless, of course, you hired them from Theladders.com.