Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 21.08.2025 
Some campaigns are just campaigns. And then there are the ones you can’t stop thinking about. The ones that keep you scribbling ideas at midnight, that you’ll fight for when the safer option is to play it safe. A World Without Accountants was one of those.
It began with a question no one in our profession had dared to put on a billboard: What if accountants didn’t exist? The answer? Chaos. And for us, chaos was the perfect creative playground.
For years, the profession has been (unfairly) pigeonholed as serious, cautious, buttoned-up. But at ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) – a global professional body with over 257,900 members and 530,100 future members across 180 countries – we wanted to smash that stereotype wide open. ACCA-qualified professionals work across every sector from banking to tech, energy to healthcare, driving strategy, ensuring transparency, and building long-term organisational resilience. They’re not just number-crunchers. They’re strategic advisers, innovators, and leaders. We wanted the world to see them that way.
And we knew we’d need the right partners to do it.
Finding the spark
That’s when Blackbridge Communications came in – and everything clicked. With ACCA’s Regional Head of Marketing, Karen Smith, razor-sharp Blackbridge copywriter Luke Thompson, and the comedic genius of Josh Baulf, we built a campaign that wrapped serious insight in laugh-out-loud storytelling.
Josh wasn’t just a casting choice; he was the inspiration. Known for his hilarious, fast-paced sketches on TikTok and Instagram, Josh’s style was exactly what we needed: observational, relatable, and brilliantly offbeat. We didn’t want someone to simply read lines – we needed a collaborator who could bring our concept to life with his own flavour. From day one, Josh helped shape the tone, the scripts, and the rhythm. His comedic DNA is woven into every scene, every smirk, every side-eye.
The work that got us here
We didn’t dabble in “a little humour” or tweak the usual corporate style. We rewrote the rulebook – actually, we set it on fire, scattered the ashes across LinkedIn, moonwalked through the debris in a spreadsheet-print jumpsuit, and dared the entire profession to loosen its tie and join the dance. And the profession said yes.
Series 1 brought four mockumentary-style short films imagining the absurd fallout of a world without accountants:
- Public transport in meltdown
- Start-ups falling apart
- A zombie apocalypse film gone budget-bad
- Christmas shopping carnage
Each one had the same punchline: without accountants, things don’t just get tricky -they fall apart.
Series 2 built on that momentum with even more bite: a wellness guru with more crystals than credentials, an office bigshot getting scammed, a football pro moving back in with mum, and a hipster landlord running the world’s worst promotion.
We spread the message where it mattered:
- LinkedIn for employer credibility
- Instagram for Gen Z energy
- YouTube for cinematic reach
Why this campaign worked
LinkedIn isn’t known for laughs. We risked ridicule by putting zombies and tantrums in front of CFOs. But we grounded the humour in real business pain points – late payments, failed projects, financial chaos – and kept the tone smart, not silly. That balance turned scepticism into serious engagement.
From the start, this wasn’t about repackaging a message. It was about setting it loose in full technicolour – and proving that accountants matter. Massively.
- It hijacked LinkedIn with laughs.
- It made YouTube a place to celebrate balance sheets.
- It got accountants trending on Instagram. Yes, really.
We turned one of the most misunderstood professions into something people were proud to talk about – even share at parties. This wasn’t corporate comms. It was culture-shifting, perception-smashing storytelling. And behind the humour was a fierce strategic engine: tight targeting, smart media, ruthless focus on results.
“A World Without Accountants’ has been a game-changer in how the profession is perceived. Employers have told us how much they valued a campaign that finally gave accountants the recognition they deserve — strategic, essential, and future-focused. It also resonated strongly across sectors, sparking genuine interest in accounting careers by showing the profession’s real-world impact in a creative and powerful way.”
Abdul Goffar, Director – ACCA UK
“We set out to shift perceptions and the response has been phenomenal. The campaign generated a wave of positive sentiment towards ACCA and the profession, cutting through with audiences who might never have considered accountancy before. It’s captured the imagination of employers, and firmly positioned ACCA as a bold, forward-thinking brand with purpose.”
Lindsay Degouve De Nuncques, Director – Brand and Marketing, ACCA
Why this shortlist matters
Being shortlisted for Most Impactful Social Media Innovation, Best Use of LinkedIn, and Best Use of Social Media for Finance at the UK Social Media Awards isn’t just an industry nod, it’s proof that a bold idea, the right team, and a bit of rule-breaking can rewrite perceptions.
For us, this is personal. We didn’t just set out to make good creative, we wanted to make accountancy something people would talk about at parties, share with friends, and feel proud to be part of. And being recognised alongside brilliant brands tells us we’ve landed exactly where we wanted: right in the middle of the conversation.
Final word
Awards aren’t why we do this. But they remind us that we’re on the right track. And if this campaign has taught us anything, it’s that accountants are not just part of the story. They are the story.
Watch a World Without Accountants on YouTube
