The city of Chicago has a background with 3-time champions. The famous Bulls dynasty of the 1990s “three-peated” twice, earning 6 NBA titles. The Blackhawks won 3 Stanley Cups more than six decades in the 2010s. And now, there is a new Chicago a few-time winner banner to dangle from the rafters: ad agency Highdive has captured the amount-one particular rating on the United states of america Today Super Bowl Advert Meter an astonishing a few decades in a row.
The agency has thrice conquered the hearts of the hundreds of hundreds of thousands of viewers who tune in every yr for the Significant Recreation. But regardless of the enormity of that results, it’s just just one day of the calendar year. For the other 364 days, Highdive is launching worldwide function, generating transformative 360 strategies for clients like Jeep and the Countrywide Hockey League (NHL), and constructing its trademark balanced client associations. Like an authentic, all-toppings-provided Chicago scorching puppy, this agency is loaded.
Seven a long time in the past, Highdive’s founders and co-chief imaginative officers Mark Gross and Chad Broude remaining the big agency everyday living since they wished to start off their individual store. Gross clarifies their motivations: “Chad and I had been hunting about and noticed a require for more compact, additional nimble creative outlets that lower out some of the layers.” They walked out the doorway of their careers with no customers in tow. “It’s ridiculous to believe about it now,” Gross says, “but I’ve been in the organization a extended time. I knew people today would decide up the mobile phone. We took our get hold of e book and hustled.”
Keep in mind as a child when you to start with climbed to the major of the optimum diving board at the group pool? It took guts and braveness to dive off. Gross and Broude identified noticeable parallels to what they were undertaking at the time. An agency title was staring them in the experience. “Sure, it’s a metaphor about commencing your own small business,” suggests Broude. “But for us, it was the perfect metaphor for the type of get the job done we preferred to do: the daringness, the spirit it usually takes to climb up the ladder and get to that room wherever you can make function so effective it simply cannot be overlooked.”
They jumped, and Highdive was born.
With a name proven, they now wanted a central function. Gross claims, “All my experiences in promotion where by we’ve performed killer perform, it’s been with a wholesome agency-and-customer partnership.” So they manufactured it a tenet: creating healthful shopper interactions will guide to remarkable function.
“The reason for healthier customer interactions is that you get a far better innovative product—there’s real science powering it,” Broude explains. “When you have very good relationships and build have faith in, the concepts [flow freely] again and forth, which enables for better function. It [lets] us say issues with out worry for how shoppers will react, and they can do the exact same.”
When questioned about prospective desire clients they’d like to incorporate, they each stated it is not about the who it’s the why. “We want daring clients who are aligned with us and really like the obstacle of brand name transformations,” suggests Broude. “What we do not adore is that cruise control mindset.
“[Chief marketing officers] like to work with us because we’re extremely keen on eradicating the ‘ta-da minute,’” Broude carries on. “Traditionally, an company would get briefed, go absent for a whilst and appear again with the one shiny campaign. That is not our design at all. We like to bring our clientele in early and generally. We leverage their expertise they’re manufacturer professionals who dwell and breathe the manufacturer 24/7. We aren’t going to fake like we comprehend their model better than they do. We continue to keep them in the process just about every step of the way.”
Chad and I ended up looking all over and noticed a will need for smaller sized, additional nimble creative outlets that slash out some of the levels.” —Mark Gross
“When clients come in for a inventive presentation, we’ll have the overall approach laid out on the wall,” says Gross. “It’s really much a do the job session, and that sales opportunities into the function.”
A single substantial fan of Highdive is Olivier François, world main advertising and marketing officer and manufacturer chief government officer of Abarth and Fiat at automotive business Stellantis. “Highdive’s innovative ambition is devoid of boundaries,” suggests François. He’s noticed firsthand the effects that the agency has experienced on his makes throughout a variety of media and initiatives. “Between its perform on Tremendous Bowl strategies these kinds of as Groundhog Day to product launches such as Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe, to our new partnership involving the Jeep model and Jurassic Globe: Dominion, [the ad agency] regularly and enthusiastically delivers creative magic. On leading of that, they’re genuinely good people who are charming to get the job done with working day in and working day out.”
François’s belief in Highdive led to the assignment in 2018 for Jeep’s Super Bowl place. The advert agency made a reprise of the basic film Groundhog Day showcasing Invoice Murray, netting it its 1st number-one particular Advert Meter ranking.
It was not a new expertise for Gross, while, possessing received a number of range-a person Advertisement Meter placements previously in his vocation. Has he uncovered the solution method for building the best Tremendous Bowl location? He outlines some of the vital options of a good Big Video game advert. “It’s not a time for within jokes and possessing a pretentious voice,” Gross states. “It’s about populist humor and storytelling that absolutely everyone can really like. [More than] 100 million individuals are observing. If you seem at all the prime-rated places, they all function good relatable storytelling that appeals to the masses.” In the 2022 Ad Meter winner for Rocket Home finance loan, Highdive identified a way to consider the present-day realities of the residence shopping for current market and relate it to an All-American classic, Barbie, as the famed doll tries to buy her “Dreamhouse.” Actress Anna Kendrick lends her humor and allure to the spot, with the storytelling highlighting the product all the way by means of.
A further veteran of Tremendous Bowl promoting is O Good Movies director Jim Jenkins, who labored with Highdive on the Groundhog Day-themed Tremendous Bowl location. Though generating the professional, he explained to Broude and Gross, “The finest advert of the video game is usually the most effective advert,” a sentiment that the two agree with. “He [meant] that the best advertisement is the 1 that evidently articulates the brand’s values in the most unforgettable way,” Broude adds. “What men and women miss out on are the fundamentals. Persons want to come to feel some thing about the model following the conclusion. You enjoy the game—it can be a large amount of bells and whistles, and viewers drop sight of the apparent brand concept. It is worthwhile for them to go through the journey.”
Each of Highdive’s variety-1 ranked places involves that marquee Super Bowl ingredient: celebrities. Broude and Gross have uncovered that it’s critical to get the most out of them. “You have to use [celebrities] thoroughly and realize they have a manufacturer to secure know their strengths and weaknesses,” suggests Broude. “It’s astounding how lots of folks misuse celebs. We normally consider to make the movie star enrich the notion and the story, instead than the other way around.”
It is also crucial to try to remember that the Tremendous Bowl is no for a longer time a one particular-day celebration. “This is a business that has to final for our consumers all year,” Broude provides. “Identifying that celeb is genuinely critical. Yeah, they may well be fantastic for the spot, but how are they good for the content material you generate pregame and postgame to retain lovers engaged and entertained?” To see an example, do a brief YouTube search and observe the hilarious teaser movie they made with Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd to buzz up Lays’s 2022 Major Recreation spot.
We’re in the business enterprise of setting up brand names. Results can help us construct our possess model. When we earn the Super Bowl three decades in a row or start a worldwide marketing campaign, it receives a good deal of notice and strengthens our manufacturer.” —Chad Broude
Is a little agency winning the selection one difference three decades in a row a new development, or is Highdive an outlier? “No one our size has at any time completed this generally, it is the giant holding providers with the huge shopper rosters,” Gross says. “For us, performing it at our dimension, we’re seriously happy of it.”
“We’re in the business of building brand names. Achievements aids us build our possess model,” Broude adds. “When we win the Tremendous Bowl three a long time in a row or launch a world-wide campaign, it will get a great deal of attention and strengthens our brand. It also would make people come to feel something when they listen to the name Highdive. It can help the new enterprise pipeline also. There is a optimistic model affiliation with our reputations.”
If the Super Bowl work is Highdive humor at its most effective, then the latest ads for the NHL probable qualify as the advertisement agency’s showcase for the dramatic. Commencing with the Practically nothing Typical campaign that debuted in the course of the 2021–2022 time and culminating with 3 Stanley Cup–themed advertisements airing in the course of the playoffs, Highdive created an legendary series that won the hearts of hockey lovers. The spots weren’t just potent they were being effective far too. The Absolutely nothing Normal campaign resulted in a 61-percent raise in ad consciousness considering that prior seasons. Creating information that is both equally resourceful and effective is component of the Highdive DNA and its blueprint for accomplishment.
The two think about potential agency expansion but truly feel confident it will just take care of by itself. “The only matter that’s important to us is we want to remain who we are,” states Broude. “We want to manage our society our planet-class creative and our tremendous favourable, wholesome interactions with clients. If we do that, the sky’s the limit. But we’ll by no means improve at the risk of forgoing any of that.”
“For us, it’s about careful advancement,” Gross provides. “I never think we’re greedy. We want to work with purchasers who do great get the job done and make confident our staff members are satisfied as we grow.”
Their employees’ contentment suggests anything to them. “Many of the persons here have on Highdive hoodies or swag as a badge of honor,” suggests Broude. “Until you start out an agency, you do not truly have a feeling of how satisfying that can be. We’re furnishing careers for almost 100 individuals. It’s fairly magical.”
So, are Broude and Gross wondering about earning four-peat status at this year’s Super Bowl? Of study course, they say. And don’t be surprised if they pull it off. But Highdive’s Advertisement Meter wins are just aspect of its tale. “We have a whole lot of achievement in the Super Bowl, and it keeps us leading of brain, but it’s a single working day,” states Broude. “The relaxation of the 12 months, we’re launching national and world wide campaigns with really intense objectives and key-efficiency indicators. We choose every single challenge with an open up mind. That goes a lengthy way. That is the Highdive way.” ca