Everyone is Al

What's the play

Take a one off character from an ad and refuse to let it die. Zapier built 'Al,' a bit on how AI and the name Al (that lowercase 'L' is tricky) look the same, for its Super Bowl spot, then kept it alive, at one point making every employee use the same Al profile picture so anyone who engaged with the team kept running into the same face everywhere.

What was the alternative?

Retiring your ad character the moment the campaign ends.

Results / what moved

Zapier created 'Al' for its Super Bowl commercial as a joke about AI and the name Al looking alike, then turned it into a recurring bit instead of a one-time ad. In one run, the whole team swapped to the same Al profile picture, so people engaging with Zapier across the platform kept seeing the identical face over and over.

Cost breakdown

Free, just commit to the bit

Time to pull off

Ongoing after the initial ad

Steps

1. 1

   Spin a character from a bit

   Find a simple, reusable joke, like AI and the name Al looking the same, and build a character around it.

2. 2

   Do not retire it after the ad

   Keep the character alive as a recurring bit instead of a one-time campaign mascot.

3. 3

   Hope your team can commit to a bit

   Have everyone adopt the same profile picture, so it shows up everywhere at once.

4. 4

   Run it in odd places

   Keep dropping the character into unexpected spots so it reads as an inside joke people want in on.

Notes

Pick a character simple enough to reuse forever. Get the whole team to commit to the same bit at once, since the surreal repetition is the joke. Keep running it in unexpected places so it feels like an inside joke people want to be in on.

Receipts

Ryan's LinkedIn Post