The AI-built campaign that argues with itself

Selling simplicity without losing the experts

DataLøn by Visma, one of Denmark’s most established payroll providers, has upgraded its platform with new AI assistants that make running payroll easier than ever. We were tasked with helping them create awareness around the launch, which led to a tough challenge: in a category few people find exciting, simply claiming “payroll just got easier” is rarely enough to make anyone stop and care.

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Our ambition has always been to make payroll simple and intuitive, and with our new AI functions, it has never been easier. The challenge is that it isn’t the world’s easiest message to land.

– Palle Knudsen, Chief Revenue Officer at DataLøn by Visma

DataLøn by Visma needed to reach two different target audiences with little in common: business owners who rarely think about payroll and want it handled for them, and the payroll and accounting professionals who do the work every day and take real pride in their expertise. This made the communication challenge even more difficult.

“The trick was landing one idea that worked for the business owner who never thinks about payroll and the professional who lives in it every day,” says Peter Ishøy-Rasmussen, Head of s360 Studio.

A campaign that leaned too hard on “anyone can do it” risked undermining the professionals who keep payroll running. One that respected the complexity risked losing the business owners entirely. We had to find a single concept that worked for both, and put a light, fun message in front of people in a way they would actually remember.

AI is both the story and the engine

AI ran through the entire campaign on two levels: the product being advertised, and the way the work was made.

The creative concept began with a slightly cheeky premise: if DataLøn’s AI makes payroll this easy, even an animal could do it. So the s360 Studio created a cast of AI-generated characters, a kitten, a pigeon and a chameleon, each happily running payroll. Then Danish actor Paprika Steen steps into the shot and stops the take, arguing that an animal obviously cannot run a company’s payroll.

That interruption is the main point of the campaign. The humour grabs the business owner’s attention, and Paprika Steen’s pushback openly validates the professionals by acknowledging that real payroll takes real people. This single concept captures both audiences without losing either.

To produce the campaign, we combined generative AI with traditional production craft. We used tools like Nano Banana 2, VEO and Kling to generate high-end, cinematic visuals, while our specialists turned the raw assets into polished, broadcast-quality videos. This hybrid approach delivered the premium finish of a massive commercial shoot at a fraction of the traditional cost and time.

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We use our creative specialists to set the creative strategy, and then we use the technology to execute assets that make people stop in their feed. It has given us far greater creative freedom. The AI tools made it possible to unfold the concept more ambitiously, work with more characters and explore more visual directions, without compromising on quality or the concept.

– Martin Maaløe, Senior Creative Director at s360

To ensure the campaign assets got in front of the right people, we launched the campaign across YouTube and high-impact display via DV360, TV 2 Play’s streaming network (specifically TV 2 News), and precise IP targeting via Adform. Rather than chasing the cheapest impressions, the media strategy prioritised high-attention placements where both audiences were genuinely engaged. On TV 2 News, most views came from Connected TV (CTV), ensuring the videos played on the largest screen in the room.

From hard-to-tell to hard-to-skip

The launch was built to drive awareness across the Danish business landscape, and the performance metrics indicate it landed with precision.

In its first weeks, the campaign reached more than 700,000 unique people, delivering 2.3 million impressions across targeted channels. Incremental reach climbed to 67.5%, meaning the digital distribution successfully extended the campaign beyond the people reached on TV alone.

Furthermore, the target audience’s attention remained exceptionally high where it mattered most. TV 2 Play delivered a 98.3% video completion rate, with most views coming from connected TV. On YouTube, the skippable videos held a 50.1% view rate, meaning over half of the target audience chose to watch the video ads for 30 seconds or longer without skipping.

Ready for what comes next

For DataLøn by Visma, the campaign was more than a standard product launch. It served as a statement about where the brand is heading.

“Our customers want an experience where the complexity is handled for them. By daring to stand out creatively in the story of how easy our system is, we position ourselves as the most modern and user-friendly platform on the market,” says Palle Knudsen, Chief Revenue Officer, DataLøn by Visma.

That strategic positioning is exactly what the campaign achieved. It also proved a broader point about capturing the AI opportunity in B2B marketing: AI can carry both the product and its storytelling when creative talent is paired with the right technology.

About DataLøn by Visma

DataLøn by Visma is one of Denmark’s most established payroll providers, used by businesses across the country to run payroll and salary. Part of the Visma group, it pairs deep payroll expertise with new AI assistants that make a complex, regulated task easier to handle.

Visit DataLøn by Visma