Gareth Brookes Apologizes After April Fool’s Video Goes Viral

Editor’s note: Over the last few days, many IMI readers will have seen Gareth Brookes’ spoof video, meant solely for internal company viewing, which he, explains, regrettably went viral on social media and ended up in many quarters in the industry. Brookes has apologized widely to industry stakeholders and penned the following letter of apology to IMI readers:

Dear fellow peers,

I first realised there was going to be a spot of trouble when my phone started vibrating non-stop over the past two days, and action had to be taken immediately:

Highly respected associates from across the industry reached out to me wanting to understand the motive behind the tongue-in-cheek video I shared with my team on April 1st for April Fool’s Day.

In the days and weeks leading up to April Fool’s Day, a sense of team motivation and unity was needed. Our firm was busy wrapping up a Corporate Video project, which can be seen here, at the time and, while we had the cameras rolling, I made the snap decision to create a spoof video to lift our team’s morale – and mostly at my own expense.

The staff were all entertained by this private memo and, regrettably, a member of the team shared it with an associate outside the firm. The rest is history.

I have personally reached out to our valued supply chain partners and key figureheads across the industry to apologise unequivocally for this momentary lapse of decorum, and our entire team has learnt a valuable lesson regarding the potential unintended consequences of internal messages distributed, without context, beyond the firm.

I take full responsibility for the incident, and would like to apologise to the broader IMI readership as I realise that some may have found the video problematic without understanding it’s natural intent. 

The reality is that we are a company of intensely high standards and professionalism towards our clients and industry and, on this occasion, I have let you down.

Suffice to say, however, that this lesson will only have to be learnt once!

Brookes and Partners are privileged to employ a world-class team of highly committed professionals, and the only reason the “slacking member” troupe was effective is because it couldn’t be farther from the truth. If anything, the company should be called Partners & Brookes; without our team, we amount to nothing, and it honors me to be able to serve this team as CEO.

I trust you are safe and well and business is as great as ever. Again, my sincere apologies to those affected. 

Gareth Brookes

Brookes & Partners CEO