Zoom’s biggest ever global campaign kicked off in December, with an ad from Colin Jost’s No Notes Productions, that cast comedian Bowen Yang as a tyrannical IT boss who inspired a workplace revolution. Now it’s premiering the sequel.
Picking up where “I Use Zoom” left off, “Zoom Got it Done” sees Yang’s fellow Saturday Night Live (SNL) alum Kate McKinnon play the role of a flamboyant but evil CEO. Wearing a shiny silver suit and seething with rage, McKinnon slams her fist on a desk, imploring her underlings to come up with ideas on how to destroy Zoom once and for all.
But McKinnon’s plan unravels when every suggested scheme ends up giving Zoom an opportunity to showcase how its features beyond the video calls it’s best known for—like AI agents and automated note taking—can accomplish anything, even self-destruction.
The campaign will run throughout the NFL season on TV, CTV, OOH, digital, and social.
When it launched in December, “Zoom Ahead” marked a creative reset for the platform, as well as the first campaign from chief marketing officer Kim Storin.
Storin had a dual brief: First, pitch pandemic darling Zoom as a one-stop AI-enterprise platform, rather than just a meetings app. Second, speak directly to the more than 300 million people who use Zoom every day, from freelancers to small business owners to multinational corporations.
Storin brought on SNL heavyweights Jost and Yang to add a touch of lightness and differentiate Zoom in the B2B space—a move she told ADWEEK is paying off.
Referencing the first commercial, where workers rebelled one-by-one against Yang’s character by orchestrating an in-office coup, Storin said one customer emailed her directly to say: “Consider me standing on my desk.”
“That’s when I knew we’d broken through the noise and sparked the enthusiasm and advocacy we’d been hoping for,” she said. “‘Zoom Got It Done’ pushes further. It follows Kate [McKinnon’s] Zoom journey from skeptic to advocate, and we’re optimistic that her evolution will inspire others to look again, too.”
“Zoom Ahead” has been extended through OOH, social stunts, and creator partnerships. Storin credits humor for making the platform feel sticky. “Zoom is a verb and part of the cultural zeitgeist. Other (nameless) platforms don’t have permission to play with it in the way that we do,” she explained.
