Amid the crowded field of commercials at this year’s Super Bowl, one agency stood apart for the sheer volume of creative contributions to the ad industry’s largest event of the year. Goodby Silverstein & Partners produced commercials for four different brands—Frito Lay’s Cheetos and Doritos, as well as PepsiCo’s SodaStream and Pepsi—a record for the Omnicom-owned agency, which won special acclaim for a dance battle challenge between rapper Lil Nas X and Sam Elliott in the “Old Town Road” spot for Cool Ranch Doritos.
“I could watch that Lil Nas/Sam Elliott commercial all day long,” one consumer wrote on Twitter.
Such a response might be music to Goodby’s ears, but it’s also the result of the 37-year-old agency’s time-tested strategy of providing cultural value that resonates with the average consumer for its clients.
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“It’s something we love to do—we can immerse ourselves in pop culture and be part of something,” says Margaret Johnson, partner and chief creative officer. It helps that Goodby’s San Francisco headquarters, which houses 400 staffers, serves as both an incubation and creation zone for all new work. At a time when many brands have a scattered roster of agencies and production companies that are hard to reach amid the coronavirus crisis, much of Goodby’s offerings are on site—including animators, editors and a music suite. “We have all the tools in-house to make things from scratch,” says Johnson.