“This Website Slaps”: Behind Squarespace and Martin Scorsese’s Super Bowl Campaign
The team at Squarespace had an idea for its 2024 Super Bowl campaign in a good place. They were happy with its direction, as were key stakeholders at the website-building platform. The next step was to identify a director and talent to help them bring it to life.
“What about Scorsese?” said David Lee, Squarespace’s chief creative officer. What could have easily been a throwaway comment during a meeting became anything but: Martin Scorsese saw the boards and was all-in on the challenge of directing his first Super Bowl commercial ever. What’s more, in Marty, Squarespace had talent and director in one.
‘Hello Down There’, Squarespace’s 10th Super Bowl spot in 10 years, is the brand’s take on capturing the essence of human life consumed by the digital world. As the spot opens, people around the world are so preoccupied by the planet’s regular barrage of digital content that they miss the bold attempts by extraterrestrials to make contact. The intergalactic visitors become increasingly frustrated, until they decide to leverage what Squarespace naturally believes to be Earth’s best tool for standing out and getting noticed – a beautiful Squarespace website.
In addition to the game-day spot, Squarespace also launched a comedic short film featuring Martin and his daughter Francesca Scorsese, as she patiently explains to him the intricacies of building a website. “This website slaps, kid,” Martin eventually tells Francesca, a nod to their TikTok videos in which she teaches him gen z slang. Francesca also directed a behind-the-scenes look at the in-spot production process.
To find out more about bringing it all to life, LBB’s Addison Capper speaks with Ben Hughes, VP, creative at Squarespace.
LBB> This is Squarespace's 10th Super Bowl spot in 10 years. How do you begin the process for something like that?
Ben> Creating a Super Bowl campaign is a massive amount of work and it begins roughly six months before the game. Our goal is always to find the right pairing of cultural insight, concept and talent, but that implies a process that is much more linear than it actually is. In reality, we’re working different ends of the problem at the same time. Sometimes we begin with casting that feels really right for the brand and then try to figure out a story that would make sense. Sometimes we’re identifying a message that feels interesting in the context of whatever is happening in culture and figuring out who the right messenger would be. And even when you get to a combination that feels exciting, the person still has to say yes — and if they don’t, you’re back to square one.
Every time we kick off the process, we tell the creative teams that before we’re done, everyone will have won the Super Bowl for a day. It requires an incredible amount of stamina and resilience. And it should, because this is really the last truly mass media opportunity on the planet.
LBB> In terms of that beginning, what was the first moment you can remember that felt like the beginning of the campaign you eventually made?
Ben> I’ve been following the UFO story for a long time and so have a lot of members of the team. Back at the end of 2017, when the New York Times ran military footage of that physically impossible flying object on the front page, I remember thinking, “Wow, ok, this is the moment where this is going to become the biggest story in the world.” And then…nothing. Six months later, there’s another front page story about how the Pentagon has had a secret UFO office that’s been logging these encounters for years. Still nothing. There’s this constant drumbeat of news hinting at a revelation that would completely change the lives of everyone on Earth, but it’s not breaking through. That has always fascinated me.
Then, maybe a month into this year’s process, one of the creative teams (Niamh Grunfeld and Gina Kim) presented an idea about extraterrestrials using a Squarespace website as a way to make contact and it all clicked. It’s like the artist Jenny Holzer said, “Use what is dominant in a culture to change it quickly.” What’s more dominant in this day and age than the internet? That’s where we live our ‘real’ lives now and it’s a trend that will only accelerate with things like Apple’s Vision Pro hitting the market. So it just felt true that in order to get our attention, these visitors would have to speak in a language we already understand.
LBB> Considering Squarespace's position as a builder of digital websites, why did you want to offer this judgement on our planet's distraction by the digital world?
Ben> It’s not a judgement, it’s an observation. You and I have never physically met. We’re conducting this interview through the internet. It will eventually run on the internet. And then maybe some people I know will read it and will reach out to me through the internet to say they saw it or liked it or disagreed with some of it. This is the way we live our lives now, and like almost every human innovation, it’s a double edged sword. Having the internet in my pocket makes it possible for me to be alone in a crowd, but also to stay connected with friends and family members who live thousands of miles away.
I think a big part of why we’re all so distracted is that we constantly have to live in two worlds at once — the physical and the digital. I don’t think that’s worse than a few hundred years ago when most people lived their entire lives within ten square miles, it’s just different. And more importantly, it’s true, and in order for advertising to really connect with an audience, you have to begin from a place of truth.
LBB> When did Scorsese begin to crop up in your conversations? At what stage was the campaign idea at and why did he begin to feel like a good fit?
Ben> We had gotten the work to a place where all the stakeholders inside Squarespace were feeling good and starting to figure out who to send it to. This is always the most aspirational moment in our production process and you let yourself dream a bit. Squarespace’s chief creative officer, David Lee, said, “What about Scorsese?” He had an open line of communication to some of his management and we knew he was idled because of the WGA and SAG strikes. And we said, “Why not?” The boards were sent to him and he almost immediately engaged.
The thing that’s so striking about his work is the deep humanity of it. His films have epic sweep, but the characters are what linger — Travis Bickle, Jordan Belfort, Mollie Burkhart. We knew he could make this a human story and wouldn’t let the technique overshadow it. And honestly, Marty is an amazing character himself and we were excited about bringing that element to the spot, too. He’s celebrity talent and celebrity director all in one.
LBB> Scorsese has never directed a Super Bowl ad. So, how did you get him involved? What was that process like?
Ben> We’ve been really fortunate over the years to work with some incredible filmmakers. There’s a misconception that these successful artists don’t want to work on advertising, which generally isn’t true — they just don’t want to work on bad advertising, which is 99.99% of what’s out there. We’ve learned that if the work has integrity and you’re open to letting a great filmmaker really exercise their voice, these kinds of dream collaborations are possible. Any film we make is going to have certain goals, because it exists in a commercial context, but we’re really collaborative and flexible in how we achieve them, and he knew that.
LBB> What was the process like once he was on board? Was it quite important for him to be involved in the writing process or did it resemble more of a traditional agency/director relationship?
Ben> Marty was an incredibly thoughtful and generous partner. He brought many of his own ideas to the script (the ‘Young Marty’ scene and the beginning and the opening montage are two of them), but it was always framed as a conversation. And then, of course, you get everyone on his team, who are so passionate and professional.
You want the director to lead in a situation like this, because the film isn’t going to work if it doesn’t honour their vision, and the way he was able to do that while still letting us provide our expertise was quite inspiring.
LBB> The actual spot takes viewers all across the globe! How did you pull that off during production?
Ben> The irony is that this global story was all shot within a fifteen mile radius. Wall Street was shot on location, Paris and the diner were shot just across the Hudson River in New Jersey and heavily augmented with VFX, and the Tokyo boardroom and Young Marty’s apartment were set builds on a stage in Brooklyn. None of this would have been possible without our amazing partners at Parliament, who never said no to anything throughout the entire process.
LBB> What was the process like for the short film for Francesca? What was it like having them both on set together?
Ben> We had seen Francesca’s TikToks with her dad and the chemistry between them was so fun and effortless. Once Marty engaged, we quickly had the idea that she could be his tech guru, in the same way that she keeps him current on gen z slang, and we wrote a script that they then put their own spin on.
Francesca directed the behind the scenes, so she was on set with us the entire time, and then at the end of the final day, we shot the film. I think Marty really loved having her there. He’s a family guy and you could feel his pride in showing off their special connection.
LBB> What were the trickiest components during the production process and how did you overcome them?
Ben> Honestly, they were the same problems you always face. How do you capture everything without turning an aggressive schedule into an impossible one? How do you make the money go as far as possible? How do you lock your edits in time for VFX, and lock your VFX in time for finishing? How do you solve for the hundreds of deliverables that you need to run a modern media strategy? I think you wrestle with those on every project, no matter the size.
One specific challenge we had was shooting on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. Marty felt very strongly about it as a location, but it’s nearly impossible to shut down for filming. Fortunately, he and his team have very strong relationships with the permitting office and we were even allowed to fly camera drones there, which is the first time that’s ever been done.
LBB> Generally, why is the Super Bowl so important for Squarespace as a brand?
Ben> The Super Bowl is important to us because it works. Our early Super Bowl campaigns built Squarespace into a broadly recognised brand and signalled that we were here to stay and someone you could trust with your own brand or business.
There’s also the syndication effect. When you run an ad on the Super Bowl, it’s not just one moment — you become a part of the conversation before, during and after the game and that ad gets syndicated across hundreds of outlets. This is the last of the mass media moments, where so many people are paying attention to the same thing at the same time.
It connects directly back to the plot of the ad. We’re all so distracted, media is so fragmented, we’re all constantly consuming micro content in these niche channels. But the Super Bowl is the moment where we all look up and have an experience together for a change. And honestly, this is going to be potentially the biggest Super Bowl ever, because the most famous human being on Earth (Taylor Swift) is going to be there, playing a starring role in the drama. So as a brand that serves a massive audience, why wouldn’t you want to be there?
