Gusto started in 2011 as a payroll, benefits and HR service provider to companies and works with 40,000 small businesses, according to its website. In the ad campaign, actress/comedian Kristen Schaal, portrays someone who “can solve problems and remain super likeable,” said Eric Kallman, co-founder and creative director of San Francisco ad agency, Erich & Kallman, which Gusto hired to create the ads.
In one of the ads, Schaal comes up with a unique way to ensure the bathroom key doesn’t become lost. In another she deftly handles an employee who requests help with a password.
"As we listened to everything HR [administrators] do for their office, we realized they are truly the CEOs at work–-the 'chief everything officers,'" said Gusto co-founder and CEO Josh Reeves. "The inspiration for the campaign was an HR person who juggles it all and does just about everything at the office, including watering the office plants and organizing birthday parties. You'll see elements of our research reflected in these videos."