Highdive | Communication Arts

The town of Chicago has a record with 3-time champions. The legendary Bulls dynasty of the 1990s “three-peated” 2 times, earning 6 NBA titles. The Blackhawks received three Stanley Cups over 6 yrs in the 2010s. And now, there is a new Chicago 3-time champion banner to cling from the rafters: ad agency Highdive has captured the range-a single ranking on the United states of america Now Super Bowl Advertisement Meter an astonishing three a long time in a row.

The company has thrice conquered the hearts of the hundreds of thousands and thousands of viewers who tune in each and every year for the Huge Game. But irrespective of the enormity of that achievement, it is just one particular day of the calendar year. For the other 364 times, Highdive is launching international operate, building transformative 360 strategies for clients like Jeep and the Nationwide Hockey League (NHL), and creating its trademark wholesome consumer associations. Like an authentic, all-toppings-provided Chicago scorching canine, this agency is loaded.

Seven many years ago, Highdive’s founders and co-chief inventive officers Mark Gross and Chad Broude remaining the big agency life mainly because they preferred to start off their individual shop. Gross points out their motivations: “Chad and I ended up searching all over and noticed a need to have for lesser, extra nimble creative shops that minimize out some of the layers.” They walked out the doorway of their work opportunities with no shoppers in tow. “It’s mad to believe about it now,” Gross says, “but I have been in the enterprise a lengthy time. I understood individuals would choose up the telephone. We took our contact e book and hustled.”

Try to remember as a kid when you 1st climbed to the leading of the greatest diving board at the group pool? It took guts and braveness to dive off. Gross and Broude located apparent parallels to what they had been doing at the time. An agency name was staring them in the experience. “Sure, it’s a metaphor about commencing your own organization,” suggests Broude. “But for us, it was the best metaphor for the style of work we wished to do: the daringness, the spirit it will take to climb up the ladder and get to that house exactly where you can build operate so strong it can not be dismissed.”

They jumped, and Highdive was born.

With a title set up, they now necessary a central goal. Gross suggests, “All my encounters in promoting where we’ve performed killer function, it is been with a healthy company-and-client marriage.” So they built it a tenet: setting up healthier consumer interactions will direct to wonderful perform.

“The rationale for wholesome consumer interactions is that you get a better innovative product—there’s genuine science behind it,” Broude clarifies. “When you have superior associations and construct trust, the concepts [flow freely] back and forth, which lets for greater work. It [lets] us say issues with no concern for how consumers will respond, and they can do the identical.”

When asked about opportunity aspiration customers they’d like to insert, they the two mentioned it’s not about the who it’s the why. “We want daring clients who are aligned with us and really like the obstacle of brand transformations,” states Broude. “What we never enjoy is that cruise command mindset.

“[Chief marketing officers] like to operate with us because we’re extremely keen on eliminating the ‘ta-da instant,’” Broude carries on. “Traditionally, an agency would get briefed, go away for a though and appear back again with the a single shiny campaign. That is not our style at all. We like to carry our purchasers in early and generally. We leverage their knowledge they’re brand name specialists who live and breathe the manufacturer 24/7. We are not going to pretend like we realize their manufacturer superior than they do. We retain them in the method each individual move of the way.”

“When shoppers come in for a inventive presentation, we’ll have the whole strategy laid out on the wall,” suggests Gross. “It’s very significantly a get the job done session, and that potential customers into the work.”

Just one substantial fan of Highdive is Olivier François, world chief promoting officer and manufacturer main executive officer of Abarth and Fiat at automotive enterprise Stellantis. “Highdive’s resourceful ambition is devoid of boundaries,” suggests François. He’s witnessed firsthand the influence that the company has experienced on his models throughout a wide variety of media and jobs. “Between its function on Super Bowl campaigns this kind of as Groundhog Day to product or service launches like Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe, to our new partnership involving the Jeep brand and Jurassic Planet: Dominion, [the ad agency] continuously and enthusiastically delivers creative magic. On top of that, they’re truly fantastic persons who are attractive to function with working day in and day out.”

François’s believe in in Highdive led to the assignment in 2018 for Jeep’s Super Bowl location. The ad agency designed a reprise of the basic film Groundhog Working day featuring Bill Murray, netting it its first amount-just one Advert Meter rating.

It was not a new knowledge for Gross, though, owning gained numerous selection-a person Advert Meter placements before in his job. Has he uncovered the magic formula components for developing the best Tremendous Bowl spot? He outlines some of the critical capabilities of a great Massive Sport advert. “It’s not a time for inside jokes and owning a pretentious voice,” Gross states. “It’s about populist humor and storytelling that absolutely everyone can like. [More than] 100 million persons are viewing. If you search at all the best-rated places, they all characteristic wonderful relatable storytelling that appeals to the masses.” In the 2022 Ad Meter winner for Rocket Home finance loan, Highdive located a way to consider the existing realities of the residence purchasing industry and relate it to an All-American vintage, Barbie, as the popular doll attempts to purchase her “Dreamhouse.” Actress Anna Kendrick lends her humor and charm to the place, with the storytelling highlighting the solution all the way as a result of.

A different veteran of Tremendous Bowl advertising and marketing is O Favourable Movies director Jim Jenkins, who labored with Highdive on the Groundhog Day-themed Tremendous Bowl spot. Whilst making the industrial, he claimed to Broude and Gross, “The best ad of the recreation is ordinarily the most effective advert,” a sentiment that the two agree with. “He [meant] that the very best advert is the just one that clearly articulates the brand’s values in the most unforgettable way,” Broude provides. “What men and women pass up are the fundamentals. People today want to sense one thing about the brand name soon after the conclusion. You observe the game—it can be a lot of bells and whistles, and viewers lose sight of the obvious brand name message. It’s fulfilling for them to go through the journey.”

Every of Highdive’s amount-one rated places involves that marquee Tremendous Bowl ingredient: celebs. Broude and Gross have figured out that it is critical to get the most out of them. “You have to use [celebrities] effectively and fully grasp they have a brand name to secure know their strengths and weaknesses,” says Broude. “It’s astounding how several persons misuse celebs. We normally test to make the celeb greatly enhance the principle and the tale, relatively than the other way about.”

It is also important to bear in mind that the Super Bowl is no for a longer time a one particular-day event. “This is a industrial that has to past for our clientele all calendar year,” Broude provides. “Identifying that celeb is really critical. Yeah, they may possibly be great for the location, but how are they terrific for the written content you build pregame and postgame to maintain fans engaged and entertained?” To see an instance, do a fast YouTube look for and check out the hilarious teaser video clip they built with Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd to hoopla up Lays’s 2022 Large Activity place.

Is a smaller agency profitable the number one particular distinction 3 decades in a row a new development, or is Highdive an outlier? “No one our measurement has at any time done this typically, it’s the huge holding organizations with the big customer rosters,” Gross suggests. “For us, performing it at our dimensions, we’re actually proud of it.”

“We’re in the enterprise of creating makes. Success allows us construct our personal brand name,” Broude provides. “When we acquire the Super Bowl three many years in a row or start a global marketing campaign, it will get a good deal of focus and strengthens our model. It also helps make men and women come to feel a thing when they hear the name Highdive. It will help the new small business pipeline as well. There is a positive brand affiliation with our reputations.”

If the Tremendous Bowl perform is Highdive humor at its finest, then the latest advertisements for the NHL most likely qualify as the advert agency’s showcase for the spectacular. Beginning with the Very little Typical marketing campaign that debuted for the duration of the 2021–2022 period and culminating with three Stanley Cup–themed ads airing in the course of the playoffs, Highdive designed an iconic series that gained the hearts of hockey fans. The spots weren’t just strong they were being helpful also. The Absolutely nothing Standard marketing campaign resulted in a 61-per cent raise in ad awareness considering that prior seasons. Creating material that is equally imaginative and productive is part of the Highdive DNA and its blueprint for achievement.

The two feel about potential company expansion but come to feel self-assured it will choose treatment of by itself. “The only detail that’s critical to us is we want to keep who we are,” states Broude. “We want to preserve our lifestyle our globe-class imaginative and our tremendous beneficial, balanced associations with clientele. If we do that, the sky’s the limit. But we’ll under no circumstances improve at the danger of forgoing any of that.”

“For us, it is about watchful growth,” Gross adds. “I really do not assume we’re greedy. We want to get the job done with consumers who do good do the job and make guaranteed our workers are pleased as we develop.”

Their employees’ joy signifies almost everything to them. “Many of the people below dress in Highdive hoodies or swag as a badge of honor,” claims Broude. “Until you start an company, you really do not actually have a perception of how rewarding that can be. We’re delivering careers for practically 100 folks. It is really magical.”

So, are Broude and Gross contemplating about earning 4-peat status at this year’s Super Bowl? Of course, they say. And do not be surprised if they pull it off. But Highdive’s Advertisement Meter wins are just section of its tale. “We have a whole lot of good results in the Super Bowl, and it keeps us best of head, but it is a single working day,” claims Broude. “The relaxation of the year, we’re launching countrywide and world wide campaigns with extremely aggressive objectives and crucial-performance indicators. We acquire just about every problem with an open up head. That goes a lengthy way. Which is the Highdive way.” ca