Founded just seven years ago, Chicago-based Highdive has made a habit of cracking Ad Age’s agency rankings. It claimed Small Agency of the Year in 2020 and debuted on the A-List as a Standout in 2021.
Special Report: Agency A-List & Creativity Awards
Highdive, a Super Bowl hitmaker, keeps winning and growing
The agency is a Standout on Ad Age’s 2023 Agency A-List
The staff of Highdive soaking up the sun at a yacht party.
Credit:
Highdive
It’s back as a Standout this year, thanks to continued growth and breakthrough creativity. That includes yet another Super Bowl hit—a Barbie-themed ad for Rocket Mortgage that earned first place in the 2022 USA Today Ad Meter, marking the third year in a row the shop made the top ad in the ranking.
The ad plugged Rocket Homes as a tool to help buyers excel in the then-hot housing market, spurring a 182% increase in app downloads during Super Bowl week, according to the agency.
Highdive was also behind a Super Bowl spot for Lay’s that starred Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, and launched a new campaign for the PepsiCo brand called “Stay Golden.” The ad drew more than 1.3 billion TIkTok views and scored 35 billion PR impressions, according to Highdive.
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The agency also excelled on the new business front, including securing strategic and creative lead status for Jersey Mike’s, for which it tapped Danny DeVito to star in ads.
It won a project from Mentos that resulted in a campaign to raise awareness for the brand’s recyclable paperboard gum bottles. The effort—which included using raccoons to dig through trash cans on California streets—was lauded by purpose marketing expert Thomas Kolster as a way to bring a burst of fun to normally serious environmental messaging.
The wins helped Highdive boost revenue by more than 20%. But the agency says one of its proudest moments is leaving one client behind.
It resigned the account of insurance provider The General “not because it wasn’t great strategy or creative; it was both. We resigned the account because it didn’t live up to our promise of healthy agency [and] client relationships—a commitment that we’ve promised to our people,” the agency stated.
