The scene opens in a dark, eerie room. Two women appear to be performing a séance. A tablet and office supplies float in the air as one of them sets up a new employee’s apps with a few taps. An operatic voice chants the brand name: “Rippling.” From the doorway, a man in a sweater vest—an old-school IT manager—watches in terror. Finally, he flips on the light. The supernatural moment vanishes. It’s just a normal office, with Rippling making onboarding look like magic. A voiceover concludes: “Magically simplify your HR & IT.”
The Formula (That Works at Any Budget)
Painful truth = Manual onboarding is a nightmare
Onboarding is slow, repetitive, and painful. The ad exaggerates this by framing it as something so mysterious it feels scary.
→ Lesson: Take your benefit literally—if your product feels like magic, show it as magic.
Personification = The old way as the frightened manager
The terrified IT manager isn’t just a character—he represents outdated, manual processes. He’s the past, scared of the future.
→ Lesson: Personify the old system so your product becomes the obvious hero.
The Reveal = From magic to reality
The lights turn on. The séance disappears. The “magic” is simply Rippling’s automation.
→ Lesson: Use a simple reveal to connect your big metaphor directly to your product.
Humor Breakdown
The comedy comes from treating IT provisioning like a horror movie. The operatic chanting of “Rippling” is absurd, while the manager’s over-the-top fear makes the contrast even funnier.
→ Lesson: Put a mundane business task inside a dramatic cinematic genre to create instant comedy.
Final Verdict
Rippling turns the dullest IT chore into a horror-comedy sketch. By committing fully to the “magic” metaphor, it makes automation feel powerful, funny, and easy to remember. It’s creative B2B marketing done right: entertaining, confident, and jargon-free.
BRAVE-o-meter
B: 9 | R: 8 | A: 9 | V: 8 | E: 9
Final Score: 8.6/10
Watch the full ad & learn more:
Website: https://www.rippling.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rippling
