back to article No more rockstars, say Billy Idol, Joan Jett in Workday Super Bowl ad

Workday tasked itself with the challenge of what to do if you’re the third or fourth vendor in the global market for enterprise-grade finance and HR software and came up with the answer: Super Bowl ads. This weekend's US sports extravaganza will coincide with the launch of a less-than-targeted set of ads for the SaaS provider …

  1. Potemkine! Silver badge
    Pint

    Bill Hicks, who's famous skit on marketing and advertising

    Brilliant!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Satan's little helpers"

      Perfect job title.

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Rock star

    It's interesting how besuited, Gucci-wearing so-called high-level executives want to be associated with what is commonly known as a depraved, drug and alcohol-filled lifestyle.

    It's almost as if they have to compensate for their utter borishness by sprinkling glitter around.

    1. Outski

      Re: Rock star

      It's interesting how besuited, Gucci-wearing so-called high-level executives want to be associated with what is commonly known as a depraved, drug and alcohol-filled lifestyle.

      There's almost as much nose candy consumed in the marketing world as there is in rock and roll

    2. Dante Alighieri
      Coat

      Re: Rock star - not all are created equal

      ..scatter Glitter around.

      Well he has just been released from prison, who wouldn't want to be associated with A Leader (of a Gang) [/s]

    3. Mark 85

      Re: Rock star

      It's interesting how besuited, Gucci-wearing so-called high-level executives want to be associated with what is commonly known as a depraved, drug and alcohol-filled lifestyle.

      Maybe they have learned this from politicians? Or more likely, they themselves are also depraved, drug and alchohol filled but jealous that they don't the perks of being a a real rock star?

    4. Huw L-D

      Re: Rock star

      "It's almost as if they have to compensate for their utter borishness by sprinkling glitter around."

      Now there's a "rockstar" you don't want to be associated with your product....

    5. jake Silver badge

      Re: Rock star

      Haven't you noticed how many besuited, Gucci-wearing so-called high-level executives are actually living a depraved, drug and alcohol-filled lifestyle?

  3. Whitter
    Headmaster

    Brian Cox

    And don't forget Brian Cox (the Musician/Physicist one)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Brian Cox

      Don't know if he ever had a job in the field, but Mick Jagger studied finance and accounting at the London School of Economics.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Brian Cox

        > Mick Jagger studied finance and accounting

        He quit when he realized that no matter how hard he worked he can't get no satisfaction

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Brian Cox

      Also don't forget Brian May, the er, musician / astrophysicist one.... :-)

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why?

    Why does software like Workday have a UI that my 12-year-old could do better in less than 30 minutes?

    1. Andy the ex-Brit

      Re: Why?

      My employer has been using it for a couple of years now. It is, indeed, terrible, but I actually like it because what we had before was even more terrible (a cobbled together combination of Lotus Notes applications, IBM mainframe applications in a terminal window, emailed PDFs. and actual paper.)

    2. JimboSmith

      Re: Why?

      I’ve discovered It’s an awful UI and not a great product now that I have to use it. Even my manager has said it’s not great but what we have to work with. I quite like the advert but then I wouldn’t rate Workday as a rockstar product (nor most if not all of the software I’ve used) and I’ve never called anyone at work a rockstar………Is this a US thing?

      1. cream wobbly

        Re: Why?

        Someone called me a rockstar at work so I threw my monitor out of the window and wrapped the IT dept cart around a tree and died after choking on someone else's vomit.

        Yeah it's a US thing.

        1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

          Re: Why?

          There's been something of a fad for stupid job titles in the US for a while now, with people using terms like "Rockstar" and "Jedi" and "Ninja". It's obnoxious and embarrassing and sometimes outright offensive, but it lingers yet.

          It's the sort of cringe-inducing cultural trend that we'll eventually use to mock the early part of the century, much as we sneer at the leisure suits and medallions of the '70s or the shoulder pads and popped collars of the '80s. (We ought to sneer at the flannel and moping of the '90s, but it's still too depressing to remember. The '70s and '80s had questionable taste; the '90s were mostly flavorless gruel.)

    3. jake Silver badge

      Re: Why?

      Probably because today's programs "apps" were drawn after Marketing got a new box of crayons, coupled with the necessary short attention-span theater required to sell pretty much anything to ... OHHH! SHINEY!!!!

      Whatever it is, there sure as hell isn't any design or engineering in any of it.

    4. Someone Else Silver badge

      Re: Why?

      Why does software like Workday have a UI that my 12-year-old could do better in less than 30 minutes?

      Something about besuited, Gucci-wearing so-called high-level executives....

  5. Howard Sway Silver badge

    We know that using Workday makes you great at your job. But that don't make you a rockstar.

    So consume tons of drink and drugs at work too, like we did, because that's what fuckin' rockstars do!

  6. Franco Bronze badge

    People who work in HR and marketing trying to be self-deprecating about calling themselves rockstars so trying to make fun of it in the worst possible way. The coloured pencil department strikes again.

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. jake Silver badge

    In other news ...

    Missing from this year's ads: crypto-anything, fake meat and Amazon.

    Not sure what, if anything, that means.

  9. cornetman Silver badge

    Honestly, the advert confused me.

    So everybody, stop calling each other "rockstar". Sounds reasonable, it's a little irritating and needlessly hyperbolic.

    How does this relate to Workday's products or company?

    1. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      I think it means investors should be concerned about Workday's exec staff. Odds are that dumb Super Bowl ad wasn't approved and directed by anyone laid off.

  10. heyrick Silver badge

    "Basically, anyone badass enough to promote a corporate for cash."

    Badass? Really? Try "shallow", "desperate", "delusional", or something... anything... other than badass.

    1. yetanotheraoc Silver badge

      Patting themselves on the back

      I thought "badass" in the article was wonderfully ironic. As soon as I saw "rockstar" I wanted to jump to the comments and say "badass too", but the article beat me to it. They are both overused in my locality. In my view they are rarely applicable to someone else's performance, and never applicable to one's own performance.

    2. Alistair
      Windows

      "Basically, anyone badass enough to promote a corporate for cash."

      Badass? Really? Try "shallow", "desperate", "delusional", or something... anything... other than badass.

      .....Anyone who has had their retirement fund managed by the RIA appointed investment funds. (now basically $0)

  11. Postscript
    IT Angle

    We just need normal employees

    I've seen this referenced before in the context of writing ads for IT jobs. It was (maybe still is?) trendy to advertise for "rockstars," "gurus," even "ninjas," but that was found to turn off lots of people, reduce the diversity of the applicant pool, etc. Just explain what you actually need in the position, use broad categories rather than a pile of random software package names, and include the pay scale in the advert.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: We just need normal employees

      > "rockstars," "gurus," even "ninjas," but that was found to turn off lots of people

      ... and yet it continues. Maybe somewhat diminished, but still used in today's job market.

      I don't know exactly when HR recruiter types, headhunters, etc. decided "hip, cool, trendy" was the right way to go about hiring people, but it's pretty awful, and frankly, yes counter-productive.

      Can we also do away with nonsense like looking for "passionate" candidates? We've just seen a couple months of big wheel executives demonstrating they're more "passionate" about their share price and bonuses than retaining employees, even while corporate profits are fine. So expecting the rank-and-file to treat their employment as anything beyond the business arrangement that it is, is pretty hypocritical.

  12. CA_Diver
    Megaphone

    Mick Farren

    Mick Farren, The Deviants, was also a journalist, song writer and author. I looked up the writer of a book I was enjoying and was surprised to see his background.

  13. that one in the corner Silver badge

    Only one way to be a real Rockstar programmer

    https://codewithrockstar.com/

    The programming language that goes all the way to 11.

  14. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Bruce Dickinson

    Probably the only Rockstar who's type rated for 747s

    https://www.screamforme.com/

  15. Alistair Dabbs

    Rupert Goodwins and the Ziff-Davis connection

    Perhaps not rock but one of Rupert's colleagues of the 1990s, PC Direct magazine's reviews editor Adrian Sutton, went on to write the original stage score for 'Warhorse' and 'Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' - a couple of crowd-pleasers that some readers might have heard of.

    1. jake Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Rupert Goodwins and the Ziff-Davis connection

      Good to see your name about these parts, Dabbsy.

      Have a beer, and don't be a stranger.

    2. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      Re: Rupert Goodwins and the Ziff-Davis connection

      Are you still with Mme. Dabbs?, Just that you disappeared around the same time as Paris from these pages and I was wondering if the two of you had run away together

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rockstar

    Id love to see a Keith Moon type CEO!

    1. KarMann Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Rockstar

      Who?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Rockstar

      Hmm, makes a lot of noise, breaks (sometimes very expensive) things, over-indulges, etc.

      Say again, who's running twitter these days?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why does Workday even need TV ads?

    Who ever bought HR software based on a silly TV ad?

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: Why does Workday even need TV ads?

      Who buys any sort of software based on a TV ad? Games, maybe. Can't think of much else that might experience much of a sales boost thanks to television advertisements.

      (Of course, I'm not the typical audience member. I don't even watch the Stupor Bowl, which in the US is just this side of treason.)

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