Office politics exist in every workplace, from small firms to global corporations. Some people will stop at nothing to curry favor with higher-ups, secure choice assignments or move up the corporate ladder. They’ll suck up to the boss (“Your sock garters are looking sharp today, Mr. Jones!”), take credit for someone else’s work (“Tom told you he worked on this? Please! He spent all week playing Angry Birds on his iPhone.”) or gossip about coworkers (“You didn’t hear this from me, but Anna’s been plastering her resume all over the Web.”). You can’t totally ignore the politics in your workplace. But getting in too deep can damage your professional reputation and harm your career advancement. 

Create a funny 30-60 second video about an office politics blunder. Think about the types of workers who revel in office politics and will do anything to gain even a small advantage over their colleagues, including: the gossip, the frenemy, the suck-up, the bully, the credit thief, and the backstabber.The idea here is to show examples of workers who handle office politics the WRONG way and the consequences of getting too caught up in organizational games. Feel free to embellish. The funnier, the better! Above all, videos should drive viewers to Robert Half’s new Don’t Let This Happen to You website (bumpers to be provided).  

This project will be worth a total of $15,000 and consist of two phases, so there’s a place for everyone to contribute, regardless of your skill set. 

PHASE 1: STORY – In 500 characters or less, tell us what workers should not do when playing office politics, or tell us a funny story about a real or imagined office politics blunder. Note that it is OK to exaggerate when submitting your blunder. We want funny, relatable videos. Winning stories will receive a 5% residual payment of every winning video they are used to generate, and you may submit up to five stories. Limit five (5) submissions, per member.    

PHASE 2: VIDEO – Select one of the winning Stories from Phase 1 and make a 30-60 second video based on it. The videos should have a personal touch and be relatable. Also, if you want to adapt the Story or make changes, feel free to do so. It’s best to think of the Story as the central thesis that you should build your video around. Also, be sure to include one of the three Robert Half bumpers found in the Project Files tab on this page in your video. You may submit up to five videos. Limit five (5) submissions, per member.

--Target Audience: Professional-level workers.

--Key Marketing Messages: Robert Half can help workers navigate office politics and play the game the right way (with tact, diplomacy and respect for others). We can help professionals avoid mistakes that might hold back their careers. We’re experts in helping workers find challenging and rewarding professional opportunities and move their careers forward.

--Music: Tongal has partnered with Audiosocket, a boutique music licensing agency representing more than 1,400 emerging bands, composers and record labels. Audiosocket tracks will be available to Tongal members at no charge solely for their incorporation into Tongal members' submissions to the Robert Half project. Tongal members are encouraged to browse the Audiosocket catalog, available at http://audiosocket.com. If you are interested in using a track from the Audiosocket catalog, as described above, please email music@tongal.com for account and password info, which will allow for the download of up to three tracks.

--Exposure: Robert Half is looking for content for our career bloopers video series, Don’t Let This Happen to You, which includes winning videos from Robert Half’s previous project with Tongal. The best videos from the “Office Politics Blunder Video Project” may be used for the video series, which is being promoted via a worldwide marketing and public relations campaign.

--Releases: Please note that winning video creators will be required to provide Talent, Location and Music Releases for any performers, locations or musical assets appearing in the video upon request. Just a tip, the best way to go about securing releases is on the day of shooting to avoid chasing people down afterward. We have created a .zip containing all of these releases available on the Project Files tab. 

--Delivery: Also note that winning video creators will be required to provide an uncompressed QuickTime .mov file in either Animation or ProRes 422 codecs at either 1920x1080 or 1280x720 upon request.