Klaviyo Wants to Be Your BBF: Brand's Best Friend

D'Arcy Carden brings the CRM platform to life

Meet “Your brand’s best friend.” It rocks a power pantsuit, loves ping-pong and completes a global product launch in six days or less.

D’Arcy Carden portrays said BBF, personifying the marketing and CRM platform Klaviyo with abundant SFW energy.

Carden rose to fame on The Good Place playing an automaton, so her casting here feels on point. She turns in a plucky performance that carries the day, ably assisted by Griffin Toplitsky as an exec at the fictional Big Coat Co. who needs a BBF like nobody’s business.

Husband-and-wife directing duo WATTS (Enna Watt and Tripp Watt) deliver brisk pacing and fun sight gags (dig that vidcap above). The approach feels self-consciously wacky but never forced, and provides an entertaining brand introduction.

“Somewhere along the way, B2B became synonymous with functional advertising, and we don’t think it has to be,” says Gus co-founder and CCO Spencer LaVallee. “The people making business decisions are the same people watching comedy, sports and everything else they love. With Klaviyo, we wanted to build an idea that could live in that world.”

The goal, he says, is to position the brand as “funny, emotional and culturally relevant without losing sight of what the product actually does.”

Well, mission accomplished—with D’Arcy headlining videos, OOH and other campaign elements.

Klaviyo promotional banner featuring two women back-to-back against an orange backdrop; branding on left and slogan on right.

“Gus helped us capture the role we want to play for consumer businesses,” says Klaviyo CMO Jamie Domenic. “[They want] a partner that knows their brand, understands what they need, and is always there to help them make the next move.”

The works breaks this week, including buys across NFL coverage on CBS.

Related: Watch B2B Absurdity Drive Mailchimp Message

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David Gianatasio