How Ramp Turned a 30-Second Super Bowl Ad Into Total Virality

The morning of the Super Bowl, I found myself at Fort Mason Pavilion in San Francisco, surrounded by hundreds of people in bald caps and suits.

It may not sound like it, but this was one of the best B2B marketing activations I'd ever seen.

Let me back up.

The Campaign

If you work in marketing or were one of the 125 million people tuned into the Big Game, you probably know about Ramp's Super Bowl campaign. The B2B finance software company aired a 30-second spot titled “Multiply What’s Possible”, during Super Bowl LX. The ad featured Brian Baumgartner, famously known as the bumbling accountant Kevin Malone in The Office.

The premise: Ramp is so good at automating finance work that it's like cloning your best accountant. The commercial showed dozens of Brians running around an office, filing expenses, winning Employee of the Month, etc. 

The commercial was great, and it could’ve stood alone as a very effective ad. But Ramp took it to another level. 

The day of the Super Bowl, Ramp hosted a Brian-themed tailgate, open to the public. The event had games, live music, chili trucks (iykyk), and a Brian look-alike contest hosted by the man himself. 

It was a genuinely fun and memorable event, but it didn’t stop there.  

What Creatorbuzz Did

At Creatorbuzz, we help B2B brands connect with content creators. For Ramp's tailgate, we brought five creators to the event to cover it across their channels:

Max Klymenko (@maxoklymenko) has 15M+ followers and runs a show called Career Ladder. We had him bring Brian on as a guest and try to guess Brian's new job as "Ramp's Spokesperson." The video not only generated 18M views, but had a live audience as well! 

Corporate Dudes (@corporatedudes) have 660K+ followers and built their audience on workplace comedy, making them a perfect fit for a campaign built around The Office. They flew out to San Francisco, shot some hilarious skits around the tailgate, and generated 247K+ views.

Poorboy Coffee (@poorboy.coffee) is a local SF creator and small business with 65K followers. Ramp brought them in to serve 500+ free coffees at the tailgate, with each latte featuring Brian Baumgartner's face in foam. 

Then there’s me (@vinmatano). I made a behind-the-scenes video documenting the whole activation, getting us nearly 100K views. 

The Bigger Picture

When most companies land a celebrity spokesperson, they shoot their commercial and call it a day. Ramp did something smarter: they used the celebrity as a foundation to build a content ecosystem.

While the Super Bowl ad reached a huge audience, it's still just a short video. The tailgate, the look-alike contest, and the creator content are what kept the campaign alive and helped it spread across different corners of the internet.

The most important thing was that it felt real. The creators weren't reading off talking points. They were at a genuinely fun event, making the kind of content they always make. It just happened to be a Ramp activation. 

You don't need a multimillion-dollar Super Bowl budget and sitcom star to get the engagement and virality of Ramp’s campaign. You need a clear concept and the right creators.

At Creatorbuzz, we help B2B companies find creators for their brand and build genuine campaigns that connect. 

If your company wants to grab the internet’s attention, join our network of brands today.