Campaign sequel launches
Zoom has rolled out the follow up to its biggest global advertising push, this time casting Kate McKinnon as a flamboyant and malevolent chief executive whose attempts to destroy the service only underscore Zoom’s efforts to sell itself as more than a meetings app. The new spot, titled “Zoom Got it Done”, continues the creative reset that began with Bowen Yang’s “I Use Zoom” work from No Notes Productions and premiered as part of a campaign that will run across the NFL season on TV, connected TV, out of home, digital and social channels. For the original report see Alison Weissbrot at Adweek. (https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/kate-mckinnon-is-an-evil-ceo-in-sequel-to-zooms-bowen-yang-led-brand-reset/).
A comic sequel with a commercial brief
In the new film McKinnon, dressed in a shiny silver suit, plays a raging CEO who orders her marketing team to devise ways of obliterating Zoom. Each evil plan backfires when Zoom’s broader product set – not only video calling but AI agents, automated note taking and follow up tooling – is shown to solve the very problems intended to kill it. The creative logic is simple: use star-powered comic storytelling to make enterprise features feel accessible and culturally relevant. The spot continues the partnership between Zoom and No Notes, the production outfit of Colin Jost, and keeps Bowen Yang in the campaign’s comic orbit.
A marketing pivot – creative and commercial
The campaign is the first major creative initiative from chief marketing officer Kim Storin and she has been explicit about the dual brief: reposition Zoom as a one-stop AI enterprise platform, while speaking to the platform’s everyday users – freelancers, small businesses and large enterprises alike. Storin has framed the work as a “creative reset” and told Adweek that early reactions have been encouraging, with one customer messaging that the first ad made them “standing on my desk” enthusiastic. Adweek also reports that Zoom’s perception as an AI platform has improved over the past year and that the company recorded a 4.9 percent year-over-year Q2 revenue increase that marketing leaders attribute in part to the push. (See Adweek and Zoom for more). https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/kate-mckinnon-is-an-evil-ceo-in-sequel-to-zooms-bowen-yang-led-brand-reset/ https://zoom.com
Why comic brandtainment now matters
There is a commercial logic to inviting well known comedians into B2B storytelling. Brandtainment – entertaining content that carries a commercial message – works to make technically complex value propositions feel human and memorable. For a product like Zoom, which has entered the crowded generative AI arms race, humour can be a differentiator. Storin argues that the platform’s cultural ubiquity – “Zoom” as a verb – buys creative licence other enterprise brands lack, and the campaign explicitly uses that permission to be playful while highlighting product features.
A cautious reading for the business reader
That said, a funny ad does not automatically translate into faster sales cycles in enterprise procurement. The campaign’s strength is awareness and advocacy among everyday users; its weakness may be the mismatch between cultural heat and procurement rigor. Enterprise buyers still prioritise security, integrations, and total cost of ownership. The campaign leans hard into feature demonstration – meeting summaries, document drafting, AI follow ups – but those are the very capabilities that require technical proof points and compliance assurances before a corporate IT team will act.
There is also a reputational risk in trivialising advanced AI features. Portraying an AI-powered platform as omnipotent enough to “even self destruct” plays well in satire. In practice, customers want precise guarantees about data handling, model provenance and governance. Zoom’s marketing will need to be matched by clear, auditable technical documentation and third party validations if the ad campaign’s momentum is to turn into durable enterprise wins.
What to watch next
– Adoption metrics: keep an eye on feature usage figures and subscription mix. Awareness drives trials, but conversion to paid enterprise contracts is the true gauge of success.
– Security and compliance disclosures: as Zoom leans into AI, expect procurement teams to demand stronger privacy and model governance documentation.
– Channel effectiveness: the campaign is heavy in TV and OOH spend during the NFL season; measurement of web traffic, creator partnerships and social stunts will show whether cultural buzz translates into user growth and retention.
– Creative continuity: if laughter can be sustained without diminishing the brand’s seriousness on technical matters, this will be a rare example of successful B2B brand entertainment.
Context and credit
This account draws on reporting by Alison Weissbrot for Adweek and on Zoom’s own public positioning. For the original Adweek coverage see Alison Weissbrot at Adweek. (https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/kate-mckinnon-is-an-evil-ceo-in-sequel-to-zooms-bowen-yang-led-brand-reset/).
For readers who want to see the campaign and Zoom’s product claims, visit Zoom’s site and the Adweek report linked above. https://zoom.com https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/kate-mckinnon-is-an-evil-ceo-in-sequel-to-zooms-bowen-yang-led-brand-reset/
