He was writing scripts for NBC 7 news anchors in 2009. Eleven years later, Jacques Spitzer’s advertising agency is days from watching its first Super Bowl commercial reach millions of viewers.
“It was surreal, but it was also deeply satisfying,” said Spitzer about the moment he realized the agency’s client wanted to produce an ad that would run during the most-viewed annual event in the country.
Spitzer is the CEO of Raindrop Branding and Advertising in Little Italy. For about three years, the agency has produced online videos for the soap company Dr. Squatch. Those videos, which have more than 100 million streams on YouTube, helped raise Dr. Squatch’s sales from $3 million to more than $100 million over three years, Spitzer said.
And now, 2021 brings the first Super Bowl commercial for both.
Spitzer said the commercial. which stars two San Diegans and was shot in a San Marcos backyard, was produced in less than five weeks.
Comedian James Schrader is the pitchman for Dr. Squatch Men’s Natural Soap. He was named San Diego’s Funniest Person in 2017.
“He is an exceptional entertainer,” Spitzer said.
In the spot, Schrader rips a few comedic lines while the bearded Michael Langsdale lathers up -- apparently naked -- outdoors. It’s all shot from the waist up.
“His life’s about to change -- it’s pretty wild,” said a laughing Spitzer, who went to high school with Langsdale. “After this thing runs, there’s going to be a hundred million people who see your face in an instant.”
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For Spitzer, this is the next step in a media career that started humbly at NBC 7 San Diego in 2009.
“I started as a broadcast writer,” Spitzer said. “That one year of my life at NBC totally changed my life.”
In a short amount of time, Spitzer said he met his future wife and learned a love of storytelling.
“That was kind of my first foray into storytelling and taking something really long and shortening it,” Spitzer said.
The Raindrop agency just shortened their latest story down to 30 seconds for a prime time audience Sunday night.
