California tech company films bizarre video pushing return-to-office plan
California tech company Internet Brands, WebMD's parent, films a bizarre video pushing a return-to-office plan.
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California tech company films bizarre video pushing return-to-office plan
By Stephen CouncilJan 12, 2024
Internet Brands CEO Bob Brisco speaks during the company’s bizarre “Return To Office - a Message From Company Leadership” video.
Courtesy of Vimeo
Internet Brands, an El Segundo-based tech company with subsidiaries like WebMD and CarsDirect, has what may be the return-to-office fight’s most bizarre corporate messaging yet.
The company made a video titled “Internet Brands Return To Office - a Message From Company Leadership,” that is still on the company’s public Vimeo page despite spirited roasting on social media. Executives from Internet Brands’ internet brands are so wide-eyed and declarative, they appear to be at their breaking point in wanting more workers at the office. “Too big of a group hasn’t returned,” CEO Bob Brisco complains, near the video’s opening.
The vehicle to deliver that message has it all: rapid jump cuts, odd sound mixing and executives clearly reading their lines from teleprompters. There’s plainly faked office b-roll and the obvious use of green screens. There’s even some enthusiastic (and awkward) sashaying to the New Orleans classic “Iko Iko” — one wonders if participating employees received compensation.
An Internet Brands worker, presumably, dances to “Iko Iko,” with an extremely loose translation of its lyrics underneath.
Courtesy of Vimeo
It’s like the executives started their brainstorming session by watching 12 music videos, an iMovie editing tutorial and the entirety of “The Office” Season 1. Mixed in with the corporate b-roll of a copy machine spitting out paper and a too-loud video of a hand crushing a Dr. Pepper can, the company’s executives sketch out the vibe of a return-to-office plan — though no specifics.
“We have been getting slow in getting back with some people, and in some places,” WebMD Chief Financial Officer Blake DeSimone says in the video. “That’s about to change.”
Internet Brands HR senior vice president Lynn Tokeshi goes next: “Your manager will be in touch with you shortly about how this will be implemented and tracked.”
“Thank you, team,” Brisco then says, with an air of finality. “I want to leave you with this. We aren’t asking or negotiating at this point, we’re informing of how we need to work together going forward.”
So, how will the Internet Brands team actually “work together going forward”? The company has updated the video since it was first published, writing at the beginning, “For the ‘record’... Our return to office policy is a hybrid one. We’ve been rolling out these hybrid policies for over a year.
“As to comments/criticisms on the tone/style,” it adds, “Yeah, corporate videos are corporate videos!”
Hear of anything happening at Internet Brands or another tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
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https://vimeo.com/866052086/7d7781e9ea?utm_campaign=5370367&utm_source=affiliate&utm_channel=affiliate&cjevent=6af8713bb19e11ee814b1a2f0a1cb828&clickid=6af8713bb19e11ee814b1a2f0a1cb828
