"As a small agency and a new agency, this is the opportunity you
dream about," said Hunter Hindman, co-chief creative officer at
Argonaut, a year-old San Franciso-based
agency charged with Volkswagen's Big Game spot this year.
Mr. Hindman and co-creative chief Rick Condos hail from
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and
were tasked with one of the higher-profile spots, given that it was
the follow up to "The Force," a creative superhit from 2011 that
remains one of the most shared ads of all time.
They got a shot at the work based on relationships -- the team
knew VW's VP-marketing at the time of the pitch, Kevin Mayer, from
his days at Chevrolet and the partners did work for the GM brand,
including Super Bowl spots. Mr. Mayer gave them 10 days to pitch a
spot for VW's Super Bowl effort, and the rest is history. "When VW
needed to open up their Super Bowl brief to new minds, that past
together paid off," said Mr. Hindman.
The experience of creating a Big Game spot at Argonaut has
"strengthened the culture" of the agency by affirming its identity
and mission, said Mr. Condos.
There's also functional consequences, because working on the
Super Bowl means tight production timelines, with huge budgets at
stake. "This is a stress test for the agency," said Mr. Hindman,
adding that handling the demands lends Argonaut a level of
credibility.
A similar situation played out at Motive, a Denver agency, which (like
Argonaut) is owned by Project Worldwide.
Motive was signed to co-create, with Mekanism, the Super Bowl Halftime Show for
Pepsi.
Motive CEO and Creative Director Matt Statman said that working
on Super Bowl ads boosts his team's confidence and "validates" the
work they do. He said brands do wonder if smaller shops have the
bandwidth to deliver the work -- and it's something he keeps asking
himself, too. In fact, once the Super Bowl work was won, Motive
turned down another opportunity from Pepsi, fearing it would be too
distracting.
Sometimes, a little naivete can show. When Pepsi awarded Motive
the job, Mr. Statman promised his team he would take all 12
employees to the game. "Imagine telling someone you need 12 tickets
together. They laughed at me," said Mr. Statman.
But the tradeoff is a lasting mark for the agency. "Every
[client] we work with now shouldn't question whether we can do it,"
he said.
And it can mean repeat business. When Audi tapped Venables Bell & Partners to do its
first-ever Super Bowl spot in 2008, "it put the agency on the map,"
said Paul Venables, founder and exec creative director. Venables
this year did its seventh Big Game spot for Audi.