RemoFirst
Global Made Simple
A 12-year-old shows how easy global employment can be.
Watch the full campaign · 1:23
The Strategy
RemoFirst handles hiring abroad for companies of any size: the payroll, the taxes and the paperwork in each country, so they never have to set up a business there. This is our second campaign with RemoFirst, after Employ Without Borders.
This time RemoFirst wanted to reach smaller companies. The biggest names in global hiring chase big enterprise deals, and small and mid-size businesses get left out. Plenty of them still believe going global is something only big companies can do. RemoFirst says you don't have to be big, or spend big, to hire around the world.
We sent RemoFirst 13 short ideas, a line or two each. The Dinner Party was the one everyone on their side backed. If a kid can run a global business, so can you.
The spot opens on an awkward first date at Sarah's dining table. Her daughter Lily, 12, sits between them in a scout uniform, counting stacks of cash. RemoFirst's team asked the right question about our first script: why is a kid on a first date? So Sarah explains it in the first line. The sleepover fell through. Then Lily's phone buzzes. She has a call with her team in Spain. Jim, a startup founder, has been trying to grow his team in Europe for months.
The two 15-second spots stay at the table. In one, Lily builds a tower of ice cream while Jim scrolls RemoFirst's site on his phone. In the other, she gives Jim a makeover, blonde wig and all, while he asks if there's a catch. Every spot lands on the same line: international hiring for companies of any size.
RemoFirst's leadership wanted to lead with AI. Their marketing lead was tired of ads that lead with AI, and so were we. Every company in their market was already flying an AI flag. Leading with AI would be like a company in 2010 bragging that it uses the internet. So we mentioned AI once, in the ice cream spot, the way we feel about it. Jim asks if RemoFirst uses AI. Lily answers the way a 12-year-old answers a silly question.
The Process
We rented a house in Denver and shot all six spots there in one day. We wanted a plain, everyday dining room at dusk. In a modest house, Lily's stacks of cash are a joke. In a mansion, they'd just be expected.
Lily was the role the whole campaign hung on. She had to be sassy, confident and adorable, all at once. A ton of auditions came through. One self-taped read stood out, and everyone loved it. It was an easy choice, and she hit it out of the park.
Her scout uniform is a nod to Troop Beverly Hills, patches and all. Jim got the startup founder's uniform: a quilted vest over a plaid shirt.
The only visual effects in the campaign are on the phone screen. Everything else happened at the table.
We delivered a 30-second main spot, two 15s and three 6-second spots. RemoFirst ran its own media.
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