Vol. 108 Ramp: A salient SaaS stunt 🧑‍💻

Case Studied
B2B breaks into culture

B2B SaaS marketing has a reputation for following the same formula. It’s often defined by messaging aimed squarely at buyers already deep in the funnel, and rarely by moments that break into mainstream culture.

So when B2B brands do earn attention outside their bubble, it’s usually by going against that formula. And we recently saw Ramp do this by borrowing tactics from consumer brands (think: celebrity partnerships, experiential stunts, or social-first storytelling). 

This week, Case Studied explores how Ramp generated 112 million views on social with a B2B SaaS marketing stunt.

The Brief

Founded in 2019, Ramp is a financial operations platform that helps businesses manage expenses, corporate cards, bill pay, and accounting workflows. Their value proposition centers on eliminating manual processes, especially the slow, tedious work of expense reporting.

In early 2024, Ramp had momentum thanks to a Super Bowl ad featuring Saquon Barkley boosted awareness and buzz. Following that, the team was looking for ways to generate cultural moments that didn’t rely on sports or once a year media buys. The goal was to reach beyond tech and finance audiences and put Ramp in front of a broader, mainstream crowd.

To do that, Ramp brought in outside experts. Kendall Hope Tucker, Head of Creative Experimentation at Ramp, told Rachel Karten that she brought in Rohan Kumar (known for leading social at Mr. Beast for 4 years) and two of his friends, Lewis Atallah and Mattais Russo-Larsson. They met for a week-long brainstorm. “The deal was that each day we’d pitch stunt ideas, and by Friday we’d choose our favorite,” Tucker said. 

Exclusive Subscriber Perk

The World’s Fastest (and FREE) Agency RFP!

When we launched Case Studied, the feedback we got from the marketing leaders that read our newsletter was that they wanted us to provide services that:

• Help their teams improve performance and sales

• Save them time and increase their bandwidth

• Doesn’t cost anything / presents zero risk to leverage

Vendry RFP is all of those things in more - we conduct on average 50 agency RFPs a month for our subscribers spanning everything from Marketing, Design and Development. Notable clients include Thrive Market (Retail), Zscaler (SaaS), Rula (Healthcare), F1 (Entertainment) & 100’s more.

To get started book a 15-minute call with our team, describe your agency brief and then receive 3 handpicked and vetted matches in under 2-weeks.

Zero cost to you. No commitment. Save 20+ hours vetting.

The Execution

Ramp’s team decided the winning idea was “a glass box with someone trapped inside, living the visceral pain of manual expense reporting.” The team prioritized the IRL aspect of it, especially with so much AI cropping up everywhere. 

But who would be the lucky person stuck in the glass box? Ramp’s team spoke with 30 different celebrities about getting involved but they decided on Brian Baumgartner, famously known for playing an inept accountant named Kevin on the TV series The Office. 

To bring the idea to life, Ramp stuck a glass office cube in Flatiron Plaza in New York City and livestreamed Brian’s entire workday (over six hours) from inside it. The box was intentionally visible and physical, designed so passersby could stop, watch, and film the stunt.

Inside the box, a live counter tracked how many receipts Brian processed by hand versus how many Ramp processed automatically. The contrast grew more dramatic by the minute, visually reinforcing Ramp’s core product benefit without relying on explanation-heavy messaging.

Though the idea began as a proof-of-work livestream, it evolved into a full-scale show when Brian flagged that he might get bored in the box. Borrowing directly from Twitch and YouTube streaming culture, the team broke the day into short programming blocks filled with planned bits, guest appearances, and unscripted moments. Creators and internet personalities including Packy McCormick, Zarna Garg, and The Rizzler stopped by the box throughout the day, giving the stream the unpredictable energy of live internet content.

Social played a significant role well before the livestream even began. In the days leading up to the event, Ramp plastered New York City with flyers announcing Baumgartner as their new CFO and promoting his “first day on the job.” That physical groundwork led to an unexpected moment: Andy Buckley, who played The Office’s CFO David Wallace, saw a flyer while in town and sent Brian a joking video asking if his job had been taken.

@moogoo2000

Fun marketing stunt from @Ramp with @Brian Baumgartner #theoffice #marketing #outofhomeadvertising #theofficeus

Ramp quickly folded the moment into the campaign. Within 24 hours, the team wrote, filmed, edited, and published a video featuring Buckley that was released immediately after the livestream. It included shots of Buckley seeing Baumgartner in the box and responding by putting up posters of himself that said, “I’M STILL CFO.” The speed and responsiveness OF Ramp’s team helped turn a coincidence into one of the campaign’s most engaging social assets.

The platform strategy with this campaign was very intentional. While clips spread quickly on TikTok and Instagram, the primary livestream home was X, where Ramp already had an active following among talent, founders, and investors. The platform’s real-time nature helped sustain momentum throughout the day, with constant quote tweets and replies keeping the campaign visible well beyond the physical activation.

The Results

According to Tucker, Brian’s First Day as CFO generated over 112 million views across platforms, including 1.5 million views of the livestream on X alone.

Outside of raw reach, the activation drove widespread earned media. Tucker said, “We’ve had CEOs and finance leaders from some of the biggest companies reach out and say how much they loved it.” 

Internally, the campaign also had a cultural impact. More than 100 people across Ramp contributed to the activation, many volunteering time outside their core responsibilities to support an idea they believed in.

The Takeaways

1) Make invisible pain points impossible to ignore.

Ramp took the common but abstract frustration of manual expense reporting and turned it into something people could see unfolding in real time. The glass box, the live comparison of Ramp vs. Baumgartner, and the time-based format made inefficiency feel tangible without requiring explanation.

Look for ways to externalize your customer’s pain points and challenges. Instead of describing the problem, demonstrate it publicly, visually, or temporally. When people can watch the problem happen, the value of your solution can become more self-evident.

2) Borrow formats from culture.

Since the campaign was centered around a livestream, Ramp borrowed structure from real, successful livestreamers, implementing programming blocks and surprise guests. That choice made the content feel native to the livestream format while also adding the quintessential “What’s gonna happen next” feel to it.

When planning campaigns, don’t just take inspiration from competitors. If you’re breaking into a new format or platform, think about how your brand can align with its norms, not the other way around. Study the creators and influencers who are finding success in that niche and weigh out what tactics you can borrow.

3)  Design for flexibility and agility.

The Andy Buckley moment wasn’t planned, but Ramp’s team was able to capitalize on it immediately. Fast decision making and in-house production turned a time-sensitive coincidence into a highlight of the campaign. Tucker pointed out the Buckley video is Ramp’s most engaged organic video on TikTok. 

Build teams and workflows that can react in days (or hours), if necessary. Maybe that means simplifying your approval process or empowering your creative leads to make decisions in the moment or establishing deeper trust among cross-functional teams. Regardless, the more friction you remove between idea and execution, the easier it can be to capitalized on unexpected opportunities.

End the search: Vendry makes it simple to find your next agency partner. Share your needs and get connected with vetted, top-tier options in under a week—at no cost to you.