Pendo’s “Sounds of Frustration” ad nails the challenges product teams face, highlighting the frustration that comes with managing customer experiences and feedback. Through a series of relatable scenarios, the ad turns common pain points into an entertaining symphony of frustration. It creatively showcases how Pendo helps turn these struggles into opportunities for improvement, all while keeping the tone light-hearted and engaging.
The Formula (That Works at Any Budget):
Relatable Frustrations = Instant Connection – From missed deadlines to negative customer feedback, the ad uses the universal frustrations of product teams to connect with its audience.
→ Lesson: Addressing common pain points makes your ad instantly relatable. Your audience needs to feel like you understand their struggles.
Sound Design = Humorous Storytelling – The sounds of frustration, from tech failures to annoyed sighs, are amplified to a humorous degree, creating an audio-visual connection between emotion and product.
→ Lesson: Don’t just rely on visuals—use sound design to reinforce the emotional tone and enhance the storytelling.
Minimalist Visuals, Maximum Impact – The focus is on the characters’ reactions and the sounds they create, making the visuals simple but powerful.
→ Lesson: Less is often more—simplify your visuals to emphasize key elements and keep your message clear.
The Product as the Solution, Not the Star – Pendo doesn’t overshadow its product; instead, it presents how the platform can transform frustration into progress, showing its value without being overbearing.
→ Lesson: Let your product do its job in the background and position it as the subtle hero, helping to solve real-world problems.
Type of Humor:
- Exaggerated and Situational – The humor in the ad comes from exaggerating the normal frustrations that product teams face, turning them into an almost comical experience.
→ Lesson: Humor in a B2B context works well when it highlights familiar scenarios in a playful but exaggerated way.
Final Verdict:
Pendo’s “Sounds of Frustration” ad cleverly uses humor to show how the platform helps product teams address real challenges. By amplifying frustration to comedic levels, the ad turns what could be a dry product pitch into something memorable and fun.
Brave-o-meter score:
B-8 | R-9 | A-8 | V-9 | E-9
BRAVE – 8.6/10
Watch the full ad & learn more:
Website: https://www.pendo.io
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pendo
