Zoom Taps SNL Stars to Broaden Brand Perception

Zoom launched a new advertising campaign on September 14, featuring former Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon in a comedic role as a supervillain aiming to destroy the productivity platform. The ad, created in partnership with Colin Jost's creative agency No Notes, humorously illustrates how indispensable Zoom has become to the villain's operations, thereby highlighting its myriad uses. This campaign is the second installment of Zoom and No Notes' "Zoom Ahead" initiative, following a December spot that starred Bowen Yang. Both advertisements employ exaggerated comedy to address a core brand challenge for Zoom: while widely recognized, its public perception remains largely confined to its video conferencing capabilities, obscuring the company's broader service portfolio.

Kim Storin, Zoom's Chief Marketing Officer, who joined the company in April 2025, stated that a primary objective of her team has been to shift this limited perception. To achieve this, Zoom is leveraging new influencer collaborations and an advertising strategy that prominently features former SNL cast members. The goal is to encourage a more comprehensive understanding of Zoom's offerings beyond its association with virtual meetings. This strategic pivot aims to reposition Zoom in the competitive productivity and communication landscape, particularly as the company seeks to articulate its value proposition in the emerging era of artificial intelligence.

Zoom faces a significant brand perception challenge. While the company excels at reaching its customer base, with a 2026 YouGov survey of approximately 2,500 Americans indicating 99% brand awareness and recognition among users of workplace communication tools, the issue lies in the nature of this recognition. The overwhelming association is with its rapid rise as a video conferencing solution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Storin acknowledged this, noting that "everybody from your mom to Fortune 10 companies were using Zoom at that time for video conferencing." However, this singular focus, while providing broad awareness, limits the company's growth potential and its ability to convey its expanded value in the productivity sector. The campaign seeks to overcome this by showcasing the depth and breadth of Zoom's evolving product suite.