Justworks Reveals New York City Small Business Fears in New Creative Campaign

Creative agency Circus Maximus and the simple all-in-one benefits, HR and payments platform Justworks recently unveiled a new advertising campaign in New York City’s Union Square Station and MTA subway cars that addresses the fears small business owners have when starting their companies. The out-of-home subway takeover developed by Circus Maximus for Justworks depicts the challenges of managing human resources for growing companies as monsters inspired by films from the golden age of horror.  

“From first-hand experience I’ve learned that starting a company can be a scary process with frightening obstacles and potential penalties at every turn, and we wanted to bring that to life as Halloween approaches,” said Isaac Oates, founder and CEO at Justworks. “Entrepreneurship isn’t easy, and compliance, benefits, paperwork and vendor payments shouldn’t be the things that keep business owners up at night. With Justworks, my goal is to make it easier and safer to start and grow a business by helping to automate the logistical nightmare. This campaign really speaks to the fears that business owners have when starting a company and how Justworks can help alleviate some pressure so they can sleep soundly.”

The creative campaign features four illustrations depicting back-end business operations in posters for classic horror films. Paperwork, compliance, benefits and payroll are caricatured as villains and monsters from classic horror films, and movie titles bring these challenges to life with ad copy including “Zombie Employees who Crave Benefits,” “Return of the Bride of Paperwork II” and “Extraterrestrial Details from Hell.” Justworks’ features are cited in the movie credits as the solutions to these challenges. Circus Maximus contracted noted classic horror movie poster artists Sam Hadley and Blain Hefner to design the movie poster ads, and Justworks worked with Outfront Media to purchase the subway car and station ad inventory.

“Being entrepreneurs ourselves, we understand the difficulty of starting a company and know that the details can scare the living daylights out of you,” said Ryan Kutscher, founder of Circus Maximus. “When you’re an entrepreneur, every day is the scariest day of the year. We developed this campaign to showcase this and highlight the hard parts of running a business that Justworks helps companies handle.”

Justworks is a simple all-in-one platform that automates payments, payroll, HR admin, benefits enrollment, and government paperwork at an affordable cost for small- and medium-sized companies like ad and creative agencies. Justworks offers benefits including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k) retirement plans, commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts, disability and life insurance, and more.

Justworks eliminates unnecessary hurdles that fast-growing companies face so they can focus on growing their business and creating better places to work. By using Justworks, entrepreneurs can invest their time and resources on the elements of their business that matter most.

Justworks’ creative campaign will run in Union Square Station and in over 500 subway cars throughout the city from October 3rd through October 31st, culminating in a Union Square activation on Halloween. To learn more about how Justworks is empowering small businesses and their employees, visit www.justworks.com.