This B2B commercial opens with a holiday-themed title card: “The Happy Helpful Holiday (Office) Survival Guide.” A tip appears—”Prepare conversation starters to liven up your office holiday functions”—and we cut to a painfully awkward moment at an office party. One colleague asks an overly intellectual question about human evolution, while the others stare in silence. Crickets chirp. Suddenly, the tone shifts. A text overlay promises: “Make conversations less awkward with Hootsuite,” and the same colleagues are now dancing in a lively, music-filled party. The ad ends with the Hootsuite logo and tagline.
The Formula (That Works at Any Budget)
Awkward tension = Highly relatable social pain
The ad captures the universal discomfort of stilted office party conversations, using silence and exaggerated dialogue to drive the point home.
→ Lesson: Use specific, relatable pain points to immediately connect with your audience.
Implied benefit = Hootsuite reduces awkwardness
While the product isn’t shown directly, it’s positioned as a tool that frees you up for better conversations and experiences—by taking care of the messy stuff in the background.
→ Lesson: Even if your product isn’t front-and-center, you can connect it to an emotional outcome that matters to your audience.
Transformation = From cringe to celebration
The abrupt shift from dead air to a wild dance party shows the before-and-after contrast in a fun, visual way.
→ Lesson: Use clear visual contrast to dramatize the impact of your product.
Humor Breakdown
The humor comes from social awkwardness—an over-the-top question that doesn’t belong in casual small talk, followed by a long pause and literal crickets. The sudden cut to a full-blown dance party is the comedic payoff.
→ Lesson: Combine relatable discomfort with absurd exaggeration to keep things light and memorable.
Final Verdict
This ad keeps things short, funny, and universal. By leaning into holiday awkwardness and flipping it into celebration, Hootsuite positions itself as more than just a scheduling tool—it’s a helper in reducing everyday work stress. It’s a quirky, offbeat approach to humanizing SaaS.
BRAVE-o-meter Score:
B-6 | R-8 | A-7 | V-7 | E-6
BRAVE – 6.8/10
Watch the full ad & learn more:
Website: https://hootsuite.com
LinkedIn: Hootsuite on LinkedIn
