How Squarespace's 'Singularity' Was Inspired by a Line from Its Founder and CEO
What could be better than the wondrous Adam Driver playing a distinctly humorous version of himself? Lots of Adam Drivers playing lots of different versions of themselves.
Which is exactly what Super Bowl viewers and internet dwellers were treated to last week thanks to Squarespace’s Super Bowl spot, the brand’s ninth consecutive outing at the big game.
The spot, entitled 'The Singularity', was created by Squarespace's talented in-house agency and directed by SMUGGLER's Aoife McArdle, who recently worked extensively on the AppleTV+ series Severance. It sees Adam struck by the eerily sinister truth that Squarespace is a website that makes websites. That discovery takes him down quite the rabbit hole, as reality eventually begins to unravel, triggering a singularity event.
Squarespace has been a consistent Super Bowl favourite of the LBB editorial team in recent years, and ‘The Singularity’ continued that trend. To find out more about the creative process, LBB’s Addison Capper spoke with Squarespace’s VP, creative Ben Hughes.
LBB> What inspired the trippy nature of this year's spot?
Ben> Everyone has those moments in their lives where something you’ve always assumed was straightforward is revealed to be weirder or more interesting or more profound than you thought. We wanted to capture the feeling of how that one little crack in reality can lead to you tumbling down the rabbit hole. Aoife immediately connected with that aspect and brought a lot of vintage sci-fi references to the table that supported the idea perfectly.
LBB> "Squarespace is a website that makes websites" is such a simple little sentence but opens a rabbit hole that has real potential for fun. When and how did that sentence pop up in your creative conversations?
Ben> It actually came directly from our founder and CEO, Anthony Casalena. We were presenting an early version of the script to him that had a different opening line and he mentioned that in the beginning of Squarespace he often described it to people as ‘a website that makes websites’. It’s such a genius piece of copywriting and we knew it had to make it into the spot.
LBB> There's an element of satire in that the premise of this campaign is what Squarespace originally did - it does a lot more now. Plus, in 2022 during the Super Bowl, you focused specifically on Squarespace's e-commerce offering. Why did you take it back to the roots for 2023?
Ben> 2023 marks Squarespace’s 20th anniversary and it felt like a good moment to celebrate our roots. Additionally, simplicity wins at the Super Bowl. To stand out and be remembered in that kind of media environment, you really need to lead with the tightest and simplest message that you can. Today, Squarespace has all the tools the entrepreneurs need to sell anything, but it’s also still a website that makes websites, and one of those is a lot more fun to repeat to your friends while watching the game.
LBB> Why was Aoife McArdle the right director to bring your vision to life?
Ben> We’ve been huge fans of Aoife’s work for a long time now, but ‘Severance’ really sealed the deal. She’s an exceptional visual thinker who understands, like Adam, that the straighter you play a strange premise, the funnier it becomes. Obviously, the film is so over the top, but there’s also a tremendous amount of restraint evident in it.
LBB> I feel that Squarespace teams up with celebrities that feel quite unique, and in a way that stands out among other Super Bowl ads. What are your thoughts on that, and what is the process like of deciding who is best to front your flagship annual campaign?
Ben> When we think about the kind of talent we want to be associated with the brand, it’s not about who’s the biggest name or who has the highest Q score. We like people with a strong point of view who are passionate about their craft, whatever it happens to be. True artists, not paid endorsers.
We typically work from both ends of the problem at the same time. When we’re coming up with ideas, we always have a shortlist of talent in mind — and often, there’s just a single person who will work for it. In parallel, we’re thinking about talent that’s very on brand for us and figuring out how we can create ideas that are bespoke to them. The winning idea has to have both a concept we’re excited about and talent we’re excited about.
LBB> With all that in mind, why Adam Driver?
Ben> Something we realised early on about this year’s idea was that the straighter you play it, the funnier it becomes. We were looking for someone who could totally commit to the absurdity. Adam is known for his intensity as an actor, but he’s also extremely funny. He guests on Saturday Night Live and is so in character that he’s breaking cast members like Pete Davidson who do this every week. As the material came together, he quickly became the only choice, and fortunately he loved the idea.
LBB> What was the production process like?
Ben> Aoife had a very clear vision from the beginning and the final film is really reflective of her treatment and the initial boards. It was a very methodical process to get the right result.
Adam was a pro about all of the duplication work that was required for some of the shots. He’d deliver a line or perform an action, then take a step to the right and do it again and again and again. It all had to be very precise for VFX.
LBB> The teaser this year was a short film in itself – why was it important to make that stand out versus being just 15 seconds?
Ben> The film that we ended up releasing as the teaser was originally conceived as a riff on traditional ‘behind the scenes’ pieces. We had the idea that if there were many versions of Adam in the spot, then there would have had to be many versions of him on set, and that it would be fun to see them interact in between takes. We didn’t initially design it to be the teaser, but it ended up making perfect sense as a way of bringing people into the world of the campaign in a way that didn’t give much away.
Adam was really enthusiastic about showing off his comedic chops in the piece and collaborated with our internal team (who directed) to come up with additional scenes and jokes.
