Some days, going to work feels like you are fighting one battle after another. Deadlines fly at you. Everything, everywhere, all at once. As for when your hard work will be recognised with a promotion? That remains a complete unknown. When these days occur more often than not, it’s time to change the script. This is your career, after all – not an award-winning movie – and it’s within your power to create a new version of the story.
Author: Michelle Dobson
This is the premise of the ‘Get a better boss’ digital marketing campaign from Pnet, South Africa’s leading online recruitment platform.
The campaign, which launches today across Pmax, Meta, LinkedIn and YouTube, positions jobseekers as unwilling stars in office horror movies, dystopian nightmares and slow-burn workplace dramas. While heroes in Hollywood movies find themselves squaring up to government conspiracies, supervillains and serial killers, many South African workers are facing empty promises from their seniors, burnout, toxic workplaces and slow career advancement. All things that a good boss should be there to help you with.
The ‘Get a better boss’ campaign uses the language of cinema as a relatable way to explore reasons that people may be unhappy at work. The campaign uses humour and sharp local insight to encourage people who are frustrated or unhappy at work, or struggling with crafting CVs or preparing for interviews, to rewrite their own endings by finding healthier, more supportive workplaces through Pnet.
The campaign is built around four key 'moments of truth' or triggers identified in jobseeker online search behaviours that signal dissatisfaction or an active intent to move.
The first, promotion disappointment, captures the resentment of people who have proven themselves repeatedly, only to see career progression stalled by broken promises. Creative executions like Dude, Where’s My Promotion? and NeverEnding Stories reflect the experience of feeling stuck in a role where ambition is met with excuses and where advancement has frozen.
The second trigger, burnout, is about the emotional heaviness of going through the motions when you are unhappy at work. These jobseekers are researching resignation letters, toxic workplace culture, work-life balance and declining mental wellbeing. Titles such as The Curious Case of Career Burnout and At Least You’ve Got a Job, Actually capture the dissatisfaction that comes from staying too long in unhealthy environments.
In triggers three and four, the campaign addresses jobseekers who have started the great escape from unhappy work conditions. Trigger three is about realising what a big job it is to update your CV (Eat, Pray, Update), while trigger four is about the anxiety jobseekers feel when preparing for an interview (The Lord of the References).
Each execution is designed as a movie-style poster, complete with 'Starring You' and 'Coming 2026', reinforcing the idea that you are the central character. These are supported by video ads created in a dramatic Hollywood Blockbuster movie-trailer tone. The closing strapline cuts through the drama: This isn’t a movie, it’s your career. Get a better boss (with Pnet).
Says Michelle Dobson, head of brand at Pnet: “Our 2025 jobseeker campaign, 'Helping Hands' highlighted how people can reignite their sense of purpose and control over their career, and how Pnet is the solution to taking the next brave step to change jobs.
'Get a better boss' builds on that theme, reminding jobseekers that they are the main character in their movie and that they have the power to write the perfect Hollywood ending – and Pnet is still here to support them when they do. Pnet helps jobseekers step out of bad-workplace narratives and into roles where growth, respect and balance are more than just lines in the script.”
