Zoom launches ad campaign, aiming to keep growing beyond pandemic

Zoom didn’t much need to advertise during the past 18 months of explosive growth, but now it’s launching a new campaign aimed at keeping that growth going amid some of the toughest year-ago comparisons a brand has ever faced. The in-house-created "How the World Connects" campaign, breaking in advance of the company’s Zoomtopia conference Sept. 13-14, is starting with billboards and car wraps in major metro markets and will expand into ads that take a deeper look at the stories of Zoom users. Chief Marketing Officer Janine Pelosi isn’t ruling out a Super Bowl ad but has no plans at this time. Zoom isn’t exactly struggling in year two of the pandemic. Second-quarter revenue was up 54% to $1 billion with second-quarter earnings up 70% to $317 million. But quarter-to-quarter revenue growth has flattened, and Wall Street is looking for what will drive the next wave of growth. “It’s the double-edged sword of having a brand where everyone knows you, but they know you for video," Pelosi says. "Enlightening people on the other offerings that we have is going to be part of this, as well as highlighting a lot of our wonderful customers and the use cases they’ve been able to enable through the platform.” Key among those is Zoom Phone, a cloud-based business system that recently surpassed 2 million seats in use, doubling in nine months. That size and growth aside, it’s still well behind all the users of Zoom Video, and the company wants to drive more people to add phone service. Increasing usage among big enterprises is a priority too, though Zoom is doing well there. While smaller companies and individuals have driven much of Zoom’s growth, revenue from customers spending more than $100,000 annually shot up 131% last quarter, and revenue from customers with more than 10 employees shot up a similar 130%. Microsoft, Google and other video conferencing platforms have made inroads, but Zoom remains dominant, Pelosi says, with 70% of the Fortune 100, 75% of the largest U.S. banks and 70% of the top global pharmaceutical companies using Zoom. The return of many people to workplaces and the ultimate end of the pandemic doesn’t mean Zoom gets tossed aside like unused surgical masks, as Pelosi sees it. And with people in offices conferencing with people working from home or others on the outside, the stress on bandwidth in business districts is likely to grow. That conceivably gives Zoom, built for stability in a low-bandwidth environment, possibly more of an edge. “We see a really bright future honestly,” Pelosi says. “It’s important to remember that businesses were using Zoom when they were in the office. I think with the hybrid workforce, it’s going to expand the use cases both from the business and personal side for the technology.”

Zoom launches ad campaign, aiming to keep growing beyond pandemic

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