Workday is turning to rock legends Gwen Stefani, Paul Stanley, and Billy Idol to spotlight its latest artificial intelligence initiative, launching a humorous national ad campaign that contrasts rock stardom with corporate life.
The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company debuted two commercials — Carmen the Rock Star and Goodnight Rock Stars — on April 7 during coverage of The Masters golf tournament. The campaign highlights Workday’s AI agents, software tools designed to automate routine tasks across roles such as payroll, auditing, and recruiting.
Rock stars in suits tackle office life
In the ads, Stefani, Stanley, and Idol appear in corporate attire, fumbling their way through business meetings, office small talk, and workplace jargon. The premise: actual rock stars challenging the idea that AI can make office workers into “rock stars.”
“You think AI agents can handle your tasks? Watch me handle my agent,” Stefani says in one of the spots.
The campaign’s message centers on Workday’s push into role-based AI. Unlike traditional task-specific tools, Workday’s AI agents are designed to support a range of responsibilities tied to specific jobs, performing hundreds of tasks and enabling users to focus on more strategic work, the company said.
Marketing shift reflects growing AI competition
“Agentic AI is not just changing how work gets done, it’s reshaping the future of work itself,” said Emma Chalwin, Workday’s chief marketing officer. “Our latest campaign playfully illustrates how our customers—the true ‘rock stars’ of business—use Workday to manage their people, money, and agents.”
Workday, which provides enterprise software to over 11,000 organizations worldwide, is positioning its AI tools as more flexible and embedded than others on the market, with applications spanning finance and human resources.
The ads mark a notable shift in the company’s branding, mixing humor with commentary on AI’s expanding role in the workplace.
