Why Zulu Alpha Kilo Debuted the Most Absurd Return to Office Policy Ever
It’s no secret that the subject of return to office policies is a divisive one. After a few years of flexible work models and people enjoying the freedom of working remotely, companies are asking employees to rejoin office life, across pretty much every profession.
Of course, this doesn’t always go down well with people. For all the advantages working from the office brings - social connectivity, a break from Zoom meetings, theoretically less room for procrastination - there’s undoubtedly a good number of people who not only liked working from home, but demonstrated over the past few years that the quality of work output doesn’t drop off by virtue of not being on site.
So, when tasked with creating a self-promo video for Strategy’s Agency of the Year gala in Toronto, agency Zulu Alpha Kilo (Z.A.K.) didn’t hesitate to step up to bat and broach the controversial subject. Holding the reputation of using this annual platform to push back against the industry’s sacred cows, this year’s hilarious, timely film, titled ‘Living from Work’ takes place at a fictitious agency, and follows the arc of staff learning that their agency’s new hybrid model involves them being in the office seven days per week.
Written and directed by Z.A.K. founder and creative chairman, Zak Mroueh, with use of his shop’s in-house production arm, Zulubot, the work lives up to the Forbes article that called the indie the ‘SNL of agencies’. It’s funny, it’s tongue-in-cheek, and it serves to provide cutting comic relief in a business world that’s grappling with the hybrid model.
So, to learn more about what it took to bring this to life, LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with Zak for a chat.
LBB> This spot debuted at Strategy’s Agency of the Year competition, where Z.A.K. always likes to poke fun at the industry’s sacred cows. As such, what made taking on office work policies the right subject for this year’s creative?
Zak> I was on a flight to Australia with my family to visit our son who had moved there after university. I can’t sleep on planes, so after a couple of movies, I remembered the looming deadline to submit our video for Agency of the Year (all shortlisted shops are asked to create an original video). An idea popped into my head. With all the news about hybrid working, I thought, what if a CEO mandated people return to the office, not one, not two, but seven days a week? With that silly notion, I started imagining ridiculous scenarios. I felt good about the subject because I figured most agencies would stay away from a topic so polarising within the industry.
LBB> Let’s talk about the writing itself - it’s freaking hilarious! Where did you get started with this? And how did you work to bring the subject to life in an on the nose but also clever fashion?
Zak> Now that I had the idea and a bunch of possible scenes, I decided to write it all down. So, I opened my laptop and wrote the first draft of the script in less than an hour and titled it ‘Working From Work’. At 30,000 feet, my creative process was simple. What were all the benefits of working and living in the office? You improve your commute, save on groceries by raiding the boardroom after meetings, there’s no more mortgage with ‘in-agency’ housing, and your kids can be homeschooled in the business, thereby reducing salary costs with inexpensive labour. The list of scenarios went on and on, but I knew they’d never all make it into a three-minute film. With the absurdity of the idea, the jokes came easily and it kind of wrote itself. I had a lot of fun crafting each one. My favourite was Jeff commuting home in ‘seconds’. Well, we finally landed in Sydney after being awake for nearly 30 hours. Was it really a good script, or just sleep deprivation kicking in? Fortunately, it passed the overnight test the next day. I was excited to bring the idea to life when we got back to Toronto.
LBB> The Easter eggs are an immediate standout point. How many total are there? And are there any you’re especially proud of?
Zak> Yes, I intentionally threw some Easter eggs in there. All the characters’ last names allude to their story. From the manipulative CEO Karen ‘Sly’ to pooping dog owner Sara ‘Loo’, to the empathetic human resource director with the fitting last name ‘Hart’. And then there’s the post-it notes in the scene where Jeff is brainstorming before commuting home in ‘seconds’. If someone happens to zoom in on the post-it, they’ll see I wrote a message. One of them says, ‘Zoomed in? Get a life’... Not that most people would notice these little things. But there’s always that one in a thousand.
LBB> Equally funny were the random reasons for why people shouldn’t come into the office, such as living in Alaska, and dogs with irritable bowel syndrome. Where did these ideas come from?
Zak> I based some of the jokes on things that I had read or heard or experienced. But many of them were just made up and I wrote them in a hyperbolic way intentionally. We’ve all heard the many reasons why people don’t want to come back to the office. At the same time, we’ve also witnessed some bad leadership guffaws when it comes to return-to-work policies. So, this seemed like a good place for a little hyperbole on both sides.
LBB> Zak, we know just how much you love getting your chance to direct this film every year. As such, how did it feel getting to jump behind the camera again? And what were your main aims and ambitions when it came to visually bringing this to life?
Zak> Yes, I do love directing. But I partly shoot these myself out of necessity. We have a shoestring budget. As for my aim, I really set out to make sure that every moment in this story would make the viewer smile or feel relatable in an absurd way, whether you identified with the employee, management, or the pooping dog. Over twenty years ago, I did a full year of Second City improv classes. I sucked as a performer, but I learned how to conceive ideas quickly. So, on set, I enjoy working with the actors and trying unscripted jokes.
LBB> Speaking of actors, what was the casting process like, and how did you find the right people to portray this take on adland?
Zak> I worked with a long-time collaborator Shasta Lutz, at Jigsaw Casting. She's worked with me on many of these videos in the past, and is always so good at bringing forward the right talent. Carly Heffernan, the actress who played Karen Sly, was a standout on set. We had previously worked with her on a film called ‘Pets with Credit’ for Interac. She's such a major talent and just nailed the character.
LBB> And how did you help the actors bring out their funniest performances?
Zak> I’ve found the key to working with actors is to give them a lot of freedom in the beginning. For the first take, I like to see where they take it on their own. They may go somewhere completely fresh and unexpected with the character. Then, after that, I really drill down to get the performance and character I'm looking for. I think the secret is to make the cast feel comfortable and build trust, so they know that you're going to unleash the best performance from them. I also like to give them a backstory, so they know what makes their character tick.
LBB> As a whole, what was shooting like? Do you have any anecdotes from on set?
Zak> You’ll have to ask Colleen Allen, my patient go-to producer on these projects. She’d probably say the shoot was hectic and ever-changing… and she’d be right. At one point, we were running behind and still had a critical scene to shoot with the kids. But by this point, we had to wrap them for the day. As a result, we had to improvise the scene without the kids physically present. Although it didn’t make the final cut, it was pretty hilarious. And the day after the shoot, a holding company doubled down on their return-to-work policy, releasing a video about their expectations of employees. With the topic heating up in the industry, I knew the timing of our film couldn’t have been better!
LBB> What was the post-process like? How long did it take?
Zak> My favourite part of the post process is editing. We had about a week, and I worked with Brian Noon, who I’ve worked with for years. We spent countless hours going through all the footage, starting with a six-minute cut, and it was hard to get it down to three minutes.
LBB> The hopeful music that plays when the people are living in the office is hilarious! How did this aspect come to life?
Zak> Brian found the piece. He's always a master of bringing forward great music.
In that case specifically, that was one of the early tracks we tried, and then we massaged different areas of the cut by using different tracks to bring it to life.
LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Zak> One of the biggest challenges on this project was probably me. I'm the client, director, creative director, and writer all at the same time. Thankfully my wife Amanda has always been my creative sounding board. One of the things that was bothering me was the name of Karen Sly’s proprietary return to work model. I had thought, ‘What’s the opposite of ‘working from home’?’. Then I said to Amanda, ‘What’s the opposite of ‘working’?’, and she blurted out ‘living’. I loved it. We had our name.
LBB> Finally, how did the viewers of the evening respond?
Zak> On the night of the awards show and the screening, Amanda filmed the whole audience’s reaction, and it was interesting seeing the parts that made people laugh the most. I feel like we timed the jokes appropriately in the cut. There was one scene where people were laughing extra-long and loudly. Thankfully, we left enough time in the cut so that a live audience could hear the next joke. It’s been making the rounds globally, and the coolest part is it’s getting shared in industries outside of our business.
