- D’Arcy Carden stars as the human persona of Klaviyo in the company’s new global brand campaign, “Your Brand’s Best Friend.”
- The creative spots, produced with agency Gus and directed by duo WATTS, depict Carden guiding an overwhelmed marketing director at the fictional firm BIG COAT.
- The multi-channel rollout spans digital video, social, out-of-home, and broadcast television, including spots across CBS NFL coverage.
- This marks Carden’s first partnership with Klaviyo and the CRM software company’s first celebrity-led global advertising effort.
Emmy-nominated actress D’Arcy Carden takes center stage in Klaviyo’s new global brand campaign, “Your Brand’s Best Friend.” The rollout marks the software company’s first major global advertising push since unveiling its autonomous B2C customer relationship management (CRM) platform.
Created alongside independent creative strategy agency Gus and directed by filmmaking duo WATTS, the hero commercial features Carden as the walking personification of Klaviyo.
She teams up with actor Griffin Toplitsky, playing Leo, an anxious marketing leader at the fictional outerwear brand BIG COAT. Together, the duo builds international campaigns over shared milkshakes, resolves customer messaging during ping-pong matches, and prepares product launches in record time.
The media strategy includes connected TV, digital, out-of-home placements, and high-visibility slots during NFL broadcasts on CBS.
The project represents Carden’s first collaboration with Klaviyo. The comedian previously partnered with beverage brands such as Golden Road Brewing for parody tourism promotions. For Klaviyo, the campaign is a sharp departure from its traditional playbook of customer case studies and founder interviews.
Klaviyo’s move into high-profile comedic storytelling reflects a broader industry shift, similar to how Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman starred in a new campaign for Monday.com to make workflow software culturally memorable.
The campaign lands during a productive creative stretch for Carden. Following her Primetime Emmy nomination for NBC’s The Good Place and ensemble recognition for HBO’s Barry, Carden made her Broadway debut in 2023’s The Thanksgiving Play.
She co-starred in the 2025 fantasy comedy film Sketch opposite Tony Hale and joined the core cast of the 2026 drama series The Five-Star Weekend.
Takeaways
Enterprise tech marketing is undergoing a significant transformation by trading dry feature lists for character-driven comedy. Klaviyo’s decision to cast D’Arcy Carden capitalizes directly on her established pop-culture persona: audiences naturally trust her as a friendly, all-knowing helper from The Good Place.
By anthropomorphizing automated software into a helpful, ping-pong-playing best friend, Klaviyo strips away the technical intimidation often associated with data architecture.
As software providers fight for attention across crowded digital landscapes, tapping respected comedic actors has become the fastest way to turn utilitarian B2B platforms into approachable, household names.
Does personifying an algorithm with a beloved television actor make business decision-makers trust automation more easily? Could Carden’s “Brand BFF” character evolve into an episodic campaign universe with recurring customer storylines?
