THE AD: Seated around a table in a corporate boardroom, comedian Tim Robinson plays a devious mastermind in Rippling’s Super Bowl ad, determined to destroy an unsuspecting city by dropping Baby Breck, some sort of monster, into its midst.
Unfortunately, notes a subordinate, Baby Breck has yet to be onboarded into the company, he was never issued a laptop, and a harness integral to the plan has been jammed up by finance. The ad cuts to a laptop displaying the Rippling logo, whose business software would presumably have helped Robinson avoid these logistical snares.
MY HOT TAKE: I am, admittedly, a Tim Robinson fan, so this spot was—as his character on the Netflix series I Think You Should Leave might say—right in my Q Zone.
In recent years, Robinson has become famous for playing hapless characters who are often thwarted by the most mundane of obstacles, and he shines in the Rippling role that’s perfectly on brand. (He starred in Totino’s Super Bowl ad last year playing a similar buffoon.)
But Robinson and his comedy are not universally beloved—a truth I have realized painfully after watching him alongside stone-faced friends. Plus, the spot is just one of five in a broader campaign, each of which promises to showcase another enterprise pain point solved by Rippling. Taken as a series, they might work; taken on a standalone basis, the oddball comedy could have a harder time finding purchase.
Still, even if the premise is not for everyone, the execution is on point. The spot manages to blend enterprise software and humor with finesse—no easy feat—and Robinson is in quintessential form. Assuming chief technology officers watch The Chair Company, Rippling will soon be in tech stacks worldwide.
Watch Rippling’s Super Bowl 60 ad, “Rule Your Business,” below.
