No agency—big or small—has squeezed more out of its talent than Highdive in recent months. The 4-year-old Chicago-based shop made two Super Bowl ads that both cracked the top five of USA Today’s Ad Meter, in addition to winning agency-of-record assignments for Jeep and Boost Mobile. Those would be major accomplishments for even the largest of agencies. But the fact that Highdive did it with a full-time staff of just 30 people speaks to the power of the shop’s unrelenting focus on putting client needs above all else, while fostering a “whiteboard” culture that facilitates constant brainstorming over meaningless formal presentations.
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The agency’s crowning achievement—the “Groundhog Day”-themed Jeep Super Bowl ad starring Bill Murray—almost didn’t happen. Brand owner Fiat Chrysler pointed out the game fell on Groundhog Day and Highdive in October pitched the concept to link the ad to the classic 1993 flick. Weeks went by before Murray signaled interest in reprising his character in the movie, weatherman Phil Connors. “We wrote it off because we didn’t hear anything,” recalls Highdive Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Chad Broude. Then, at the urging of Fiat Chrysler Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Francois, Murray agreed, but wasn’t available to shoot until the weekend before the game. The agency shot the spot over three days in Woodstock, Illinois—the Chicago-area town where the movie was filmed—and it went on to take first place in the Ad Meter and earn an Emmy nomination. The shop also won plaudits for its Super Bowl ad for Quicken Loans’ Rocket Mortgage featuring “Aquaman” star Jason Momoa.