This commercial makes a mistake that many recruiting campaigns make: It promotes the advertiser’s product, when they should be trying to entice the right kind of person to apply for a job.

The spot refers to “customer service.” Being a good customer service rep has pretty darn little in common with loving to play video games.

“So if you think you’re game enough to take your skills to the next level, Sutherland Global Services is looking for you.”

The “next level” of playing video games isn’t “working as a customer service rep.” The logic simply doesn’t work.

Now, it’s possible that by “customer service” they mean “tech support.”

If what they really mean is, “We’re looking for people who know Activision’s games inside-out and can help users with their technical problems,” then it’s possible to tie “love of games” into this recruitment spot.

And, actually, they might be the case here. After visiting Sutherland Global’s website, I see they (apparently) handle customer service for other companies.

Even if that’s the case, the spot would need to be overhauled to make everything clear. But I suspect they’re trying to recruit customer service reps, not tech support people.

Because there are so many words in the copy, the announcer has to rush through the name of the advertiser…which is garbled the first time it’s given.

Although they know who they are and their local employees know who they are, your target audience — by definition, people who are not employed by them — cannot be expected to recognize (and be able to spell) Sutherland Global Services.

Finally, there’s absolutely no reason to mention the advertiser’s name so early in the spot.  The message is not about Sutherland Global Services. It’s about people who would like to work as customer service reps for Activision.

Sutherland Global Services should be mentioned only at the end; Sutherland Global Services is simply the answer to the question, “How can I get such a cool job with Activision?”

Unfortunately, anyone who does go to the advertiser’s website after hearing this spot is likely to give up and leave rather than apply for a job. There’s nothing on the site about “Activision” or “the world of gaming.”