- Podcast Style
cfo.ai: podcast-style ad for SaaS
A chief of staff recalls the day her CEO asked “if we can still hire two engineers next month” with the biggest deal a quarter late, and shows how she gets the answer from Ari.
01
Brief
cfo.ai sells Ari, an assistant that runs a startup's numbers. The guest in this ad uses it for a hiring call: “I ask Ari what happens to cash if the deal slips and the hires don't.” She moves the start dates, compares the scenarios and brings her CEO “a clear answer.”
The ad speaks to chiefs of staff and operators who field the CEO's money questions. The host asks the obvious “Can't you just ask finance?”, and her answer lays out the problem: “Sales has a new close date, HR has four different start dates, and the forecast still has the deal landing this month.” In 29 seconds the ad has to turn that tangle into one question Ari can answer.
02
Format and style
A cinematic two-person sit-down at a dark wood table. The guest wears tortoiseshell glasses, gold hoops and a navy overshirt, with her curly hair in a bun; the host across from her has gray hair, a black T-shirt and a notebook and pen by his elbow. Low window light leaves the room dark and keeps both faces warm. For the opening seconds a title bar runs across the top, and a lower third names her as chief of staff at a Series A startup over a card with her CEO's question.
Captions run one or two words at a time in heavy white type, with the host's words on a navy block. When she names Ari, the product enters the conversation as a card laid over the shot: her question, Ari working, then the answer with a chart. A podcast frame suits AI SaaS video ads for a planning tool because a peer lays out the problem before the product appears, and the card shows the product doing what she describes.
03
How it was made
I open close on her face under the host's question, “What's a CEO question that ruins your afternoon?”, and cut wide as she starts: “Last week, my CEO asked if we can still hire two engineers next month.” A tight shot lands “Our biggest deal just slipped a quarter,” and I cut to the host for “Can't you just ask finance?” She answers from the wide shot with her hands on the table, listing the close date, the start dates and the forecast that still has the deal this month.
The host folds his arms for “So what do you do?” She starts “I ask Ari what happens to cash if the deal slips and the hires don't,” and as I cut to him listening, chin on hand, the cfo.ai mark and then her question appear over the shot while Ari works through it. The answer card, with a line for each start date, holds through “Then I move the start dates and compare the scenarios.” I close on her for “Then I bring my CEO a clear answer,” and the ad ends on a navy-to-orange card with the cfo.ai mark, three checked benefits and a free-trial button.
04
Deliverables
One podcast-style ad, vertical 9:16
Runtime 0:29
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