Terri & Sandy went on the offensive with its talent acquisition game this week, and on its front lines is Marion Ette, a shamelessly obedient puppet with one dream: to be a WPP employee.
The indie agency sensed an opportunity to poach top-notch creatives when WPP announced its new four-day in-office mandate. Employees raged. A petition circulated.
Terri & Sandy leaped into action, creating Marion Ette, the self-described “WPPuppet” (and a literal marionette puppet acquired via eBay from his former owner, a woman in Illinois).
In several videos, Marion Ette says he loves commuting; four days in office works great for him—he’d prefer eight. Lifeless fluorescent lighting is totally his jam. His entire existence is an ode to obsequious control—just like that return-to-office policy. In other words, he’s a perfect WPP employee.
The character has a LinkedIn account dedicated to scoring him a job at WPP and “BEING NOTICED BY MY SWEET KING MARK READ,” per a recent post. He tags WPP creative talent in posts about Terri and Sandy’s flexible work policies.
But he’s not just on Linkedin. He has an Instagram account where he desperately posts the same picture daily hoping WPP will notice him and a Pinterest page full of lifeless office spaces. He even has a Letterboxd account where he reviews movies like “The Wolf of Wall Street” (which he loved).
And don’t miss the Spotify playlists featuring “DOPE ELEVATOR BEATS,” the soundtrack to “American Psycho,” and—more on the nose—songs about puppets.
And keeping it tight across platforms, OOH is strategically placed near the WPP mothership.
Really, instead of being another cog in the machine, he’s driving WPP employees toward Terri & Sandy’s careers page, where creatives can “cut their strings.”
Talk about a hell of an employer brand stunt.
Marion Ette has had a rough week—his nose has been broken multiple times during his short stint as a corporate shill. (Terry & Sandy promises to hire a stunt double next time.) After all, “the puppet was incredibly easy to work with,” Terri & Sandy reported. “He did exactly what we said and never complained.” Oof.
Credits
- Co-Founder & CEO: Sandy Greenberg
- President: Peyton Sutton
- Director of Strategy: Phil Levine
- Senior Director of Digital Strategy and Copywriter: Bryce Mathias
- Senior Copywriter: Charlie Higgins
- Senior Art Director: Parker Lee
- Jr. Copywriter: Sam Baylow
- Jr. Art Director: Timmy Chae
- Assistant Account Executive: Renee Pearce
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Jess Zafarris is the author of two books, Once Upon a Word and Words from Hell, with a third forthcoming in 2025. She has contributed to three other books on topics such as social media and gaming. In the past year, she has been quoted in The New York Times and The Guardian, profiled in The Boston Globe, and interviewed on NPR and BBC World Service Radio. She speaks at conferences about writing careers and social media strategy. After 15 years in B2B and enthusiast media, she went independent to write and create content for organizations including Dictionary.com, PR Daily, Writer’s Digest, and Indie Agency News, as well as a host of communications and advertising agencies. Her podcast, Words Unravelled, has reached more than 2.5 million listeners, and her etymology videos are followed more than 100,000 word lovers.
