Hungry Man ventures into new creative frontiers

California-based Hungry Man expanded its horizons in 2024, growing its headcount to 60 people across five offices—including New York, London, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro—and venturing into new projects and categories. The company once again showed its affinity for work marked by emotive storytelling and grade-A craft, leaning into the tightly crafted humor that audiences have come to expect from Hungry Man while flexing new muscles for other work. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here For BMW, Hungry Man partnered with Goodby Silverstein & Partners to create a tight, humorous, cinematic Super Bowl ad illustrating a day in the life of Christopher Walken. Directed by co-founder Bryan Buckley, the spot shows Walken going about a normal day, driving an electric BMW i5 to run errands. Everyone he encounters tries to imitate his halting speaking style, but he does not find it amusing. He feels better only after encountering Usher at a restaurant, who overhears Walken saying “Yeah,” a reference to the singer’s hit song “Yeah!” The company also worked with adam&eveDDB and Disney to craft the heartwarming holiday short film “The Boy & the Octopus,” which follows a boy and an endearing octopus named Blub Blub through an unlikely friendship and quest to meet Santa. Brought to life with VFX and directed by Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi, the moving ad was lauded as bringing back the magic and wonder of the holidays. And for Roku, Dave Laden directed its hilarious campaign, “Less Screaming, More Streaming,” which transformed everyday frustrations of watching TV—such as losing the remote or navigating endless streaming options—into sharp, eccentric comedy. The spot came in at No. 2 on Ad Age’s Best Ads of 2024 list. Other notable campaigns included “The Toast” for the NBA Finals, directed by Dave Laden, and Asda’s charming Christmas film “The Gnome of Christmas,” which Hungry Man achieved amid tight budgets, scheduling conflicts with talent and other challenges. Meanwhile, the company continued to grow its pre-production team and invest in AI tools to maximize efficiency, despite the controversy around AI in production. Now, Hungry Man is opening the path for its directors to do more passion projects outside advertising or explore new mediums. For instance, it developed a long-form department that received financing for a film to be directed by Dan Opsal, said Caleb Dewart, managing partner and executive producer at Hungry Man. Meanwhile, Christopher Gruse, who had been “pigeonholed” as a car advertising expert, has blossomed into new categories as a visual storyteller, Dewart said. Additionally, the company is set to announce a new Broadway musical, co-written by Bryan Buckley and produced by Buckley and Waititi. Hungry Man declined to share more details. “What Kim [Dellara, executive producer and partner at Hungry Man] and I are most proud of is those opportunities we get when we leverage our relationships and go to the mat for folks to make something work that maybe they had an outside chance of getting,” said Dewart. Over the past year, the company has also brought renowned new talent into its roster, signing director Angela Barnes and the directing collective Shy Kids. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here

Hungry Man ventures into new creative frontiers

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