LERMA/ Agency is the first advertising firm in Dallas to be responsible for three Super Bowl commercials, landing deals with local nonprofit marketing organization Avocados From Mexico and He Gets Us, a Christian nonprofit organization.
Pedro Lerma founded the company with Stan Richards in 2008 and was formerly part of Richards Group before going independent in 2020. The organization was founded with a focus on the Hispanic audience and has evolved to serve a broad multicultural market with a variety of brands, including Avocados From Mexico, Salvation Army, Yuengling, and Home Depot. “We talk about ourselves being deliberately diverse,” Lerma, also the company’s CEO, says. “We started as a Hispanic/multicultural agency, so that’s always been important to us. It’s been a part of our DNA.”
This summer, AdAge recognized Lerma as the small agency of the year. In December, it expanded its space in the West End and now occupies nearly 56,000 square feet in creative workspace The Luminary, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows, focus group space, and a stage for jam sessions.
LERMA has long worked with Avocados From Mexico, which has made a name for its humorous Super Bowl Commercials in past years. Previously, LERMA/ handled some of the social activation and social media for AFM during the game, analyzing the reactions and interacting with commenters on social media. Get a sneak peek of AFM’s 2023 ad here.
“As we became independent, we had to shift our mindset and embrace the fact that it was time for us to grow up and take our place in the advertising landscape,” Lerma says. It wasn’t until this year that Lerma felt like his organization had the talent and confidence to pitch their own Super Bowl commercial. “That gave me the confidence to go to somebody like Avocados From Mexico and say, ‘Give us a shot at the Super Bowl.’ I felt confident we would bring them brilliant ideas, and we did.”
Though they were familiar with AFM as a client, this was a larger stage than their previous work, with a larger investment as well. According to AdAge, a 30-second spot cost companies a record $7 million this year—all slots sold out six days prior to the game. After pitching the idea nearly a year ago and getting the green light, Lerma said his creative teams came up with dozens of ideas, whittling them down and planning production in the weeks and months before the game. When Lerma spoke with D CEO just a few weeks before the Super Bowl, Lerma said they were still putting the final touches on the edits.
LERMA previously worked with He Gets Us, helping to create a commercial about a teen mother and her boyfriend who wasn’t the child’s father. On Christmas, the two couldn’t find a place to stay and ended up sleeping in a manger—a modern take on a familiar message. LERMA isn’t a religious advertising agency, but He Gets Us was looking to spread its message to a secular audience and employed LERMA/ to help reach them. He Gets Us purchased a 30-second and 60-second spot during the Super Bowl, and LERMA/ is the creative team behind them. Though he couldn’t share too much about the two commercial spots, Lerma hinted at the message.
“We’re not attempting to be political. The strategy you will see in the Super Bowl is what we call the third way,” he says. “It’s rooted in the idea that Jesus didn’t run from confrontation or conflict, but he also didn’t show aggression in those situations. He approached every one of them with a position of love, forgiveness, and grace.”
LERMA’s motto is “Channeling Creativity for Good,” a message Lerma and his staff take seriously. “If we can move someone to action, either to donate or to volunteer, or to change a behavior for the better, that’s great,” Lerma says.
The firm has never done a Super Bowl commercial, and this year it has three. It has been a season of growth and thinking big for a firm that just became independent in April 2021—and has grown from 40 employees from under the Richards Group to more than 100 today. Lerma is leaning into the challenge of becoming the creative beacon for the entire Southwest.
“We had to grow wings and fly…I’m not scared, but I don’t know if that’s ignorance or confidence,” he says. “That’s how I feel. I’m ridiculously excited, and I think I’m not scared because of what we’ve been able to accomplish and the team that I have around me. I have to give so much credit to that team.”
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