Harry Redknapp Puts a HR Team Through its Paces for Humorous BrightHR Spot

Dentsu’s Whitespace, An Isobar Company, and iProspect have collaborated on their first work for BrightHR, an award-winning people management software company that champions SMEs by giving them all the HR, employment law, health and safety tools and support they need to take their businesses to the next level.

The humorous commercial sees former premiership football manager, Harry Redknapp, star as an old-school HR manager, struggling to cope with his latest role. As H.R. puts his bewildered team through training drills and tactical briefings, the boss explains she’s signed a new assistant to help him: the BrightHR service. “Tottenham all over again”, he complains.

The spot created by Whitespace, and planned and bought by iProspect, breaks on Sky this week and is part of a wider campaign to grow the presence of the brand and drive subscriptions. The campaign, which also includes online video and social, aims to alert business owners that there is a smarter solution to their HR tasks. That by subscribing to BrightHR they can do away with volumes of paperwork and forms, accessing a vast online database of documents and information. They can approve overtime and holidays quickly at the tap of button on the go and can even access employment law legal experts 24/7, which could save time and expensive legal fees.  

Rebecca McEwan, business development manager at iProspect said: “The combination of a memorable creative platform and the broad nature of the BrightHR service meant AV was absolutely necessary to provide both the cut-through and explanation of the many ways in which it can help SMEs. But by defining niche target audiences, with Sky AdSmart and Online Video, we can also ensure the campaign is seen by those who will directly benefit, minimising media wastage.” 

Neil D. Walker, Whitespace creative director said: “This is a great example of creative and media within the dentsu network working in synergy from the very start. To be able to give the client a coherent and joined up multi-channel campaign pitched seamlessly together is a no-brainer: BrightHR recognised the potential of the work from the outset, and so took a risk on this funny and bold campaign.”

Alan Price, BrightHR CEO said: “We are very proud of #TheNewHR campaign we have produced with iProspect and Whitespace, fronted by Harry Redknapp. The creativity and strategic insight they brought has resulted in a campaign we expect will drive impressive results. 

Underpinning #TheNewHR campaign is our desire to continually improve the essential support we provide small businesses, who, throughout the pandemic in particular, have faced significant HR and Health and Safety challenges. BrightHR took major steps to ensure small businesses had access to the support they needed to protect their people, customers and businesses. 

As we now move beyond the pandemic our services continue to evolve. This forms #TheNewHR which will change how small businesses manage their HR and H&S processes, improving people safety, team performance and business productivity into the future.”