Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s ad business is proving that it was never just an A-list vanity project

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Pop quiz: Which two Super Bowl ads were created by Artists Equity Advertising, the commercial creative arm of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s studio Artists Equity?

Hint: It was the two starring… Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. 

The big game ads for both Stella Artois and Dunkin were excellent vehicles for both actors. But they’re also the rare occurrence of major advertising investment—which goes well beyond the $8 million just for Super Bowl airtime—going to a boutique creative shop run by Hollywood A-listers. 

However, this is not a story about Super Bowl ads. It’s about Artists Equity’s approach to capitalizing on the increasingly aligned interests of Hollywood and brand marketers—and how the company just may have the strategy and talent to capitalize on it. 

Since Affleck and Damon founded Artists Equity in 2022, the studio has been steadily churning out film and TV work. Releases include Air, the unauthorized story of how Nike landed Michael Jordan; the Cillian Murphy drama Small Things Like These; Doug Liman’s The Instigators with Apple Films; William Goldenberg’s Unstoppable on Prime Video; and Jennifer Lopez’ Kiss of the Spider Woman. It’s also behind the upcoming Affleck-starring action sequel The Accountant 2. 

But since Affleck’s first spin as a Dunkin spokesperson in 2023—anchored by a Super Bowl spot in which when he takes over a Boston-area drive-thru—Artists Equity has been building its advertising team with a few different goals in mind. The first is to provide an added revenue stream and creative outlet for the company. Second, give both brands and talent the best experience and results with advertising that also entertains. It’s far from the only creative shop with those ambitions. But Affleck is confident that Artists Equity Advertising can carve out its own corner of the commercial world, and has a plan on how to do it. 

A significant part of that plan is bringing to the ad world the company’s filmmaking prowess and the creator-focused approach it takes with its studio projects. Affleck tells Fast Company that his early commercial experiences as a brand spokesperson felt overly transactional. Like a hired gun, brought in to smile and wave, with no creative input or involvement. As a result, the work was unsatisfying to him, and ultimately not as good for the brands as it could have been.

 “My argument to brands is that there’s a reason why you want to associate this person with the product you’re selling, and the reason is the cultural footprint this person has created,” Affleck says. “And to me, the obvious take is asking them to come in and be part of the creative process, which means sharing the strategy goals, creative goals, and brand goals.”

[Image: courtesy Artists Equity Advertising]

Glazed ambition

The notion of brands involving celebrities or artists in the creative process sounds rather obvious. And it is becoming more common – see Bud Light’s work with comedian Shane Gillis. But it’s still more the exception than the rule. 

Artists Equity’s advertising business was largely born out of Affleck’s experience with Dunkin. Back in 2022, as a lifelong fan of the brand, Affleck was talking to the company about starring in a Super Bowl ad. At the time, Dunkin had a traditional ad agency working on the spot. But Affleck had an idea. What if he just showed up at a random Massachusetts Dunkin and worked the drive-thru? IT would not only make for a fun spot, but also generate a ton of earned media. The brand was hesitant, but Affleck persisted.

“The agency was much smaller at the time, and in order to prove it to them, I said we’d shoot the commercial that they originally wanted, but then asked them to let us try to improve that, and also do the commercial that I think would work,” he says.

The result was a Top 5 Super Bowl ad in 2023 on USA Today’s Ad Meter, as well as an 837% increase in social conversations after the Super Bowl, more than any other brand, according to media intelligence firm Meltwater.

Dunkin’ CMO Jill McVicar Nelson says the Artists Equity model allows the company to tap into top talent across creative, production, design, and more, allowing them to deliver beautiful, high-impact work at incredible speed. “Because they oversee both creative and production, they move swiftly to finalize assets while maximizing content creation,” she says. “This means we get a wealth of high-quality assets across all channels, with an exceptional eye for production and design in everything they do.”

The Super Bowl work continued this year and last, with the DunKings. The line of merch the brand created in 2024—in particular the track suits—sold out in less than 30 minutes. 

It’s also led to creating a steady stream of work for the brand, including the recent Sabrina Carpenter spot for her Brown Sugar Shakin’ Espresso. And a merch collab this month with Juicy Couture that sold out in five minutes.

“Artists Equity Advertising has their finger on the pulse of culture, and while many may make that claim, they actually walk the walk,” says Nelson. “They don’t just anticipate what consumers will care about; their team is really connected to pop culture through their work across the studio. They bring this unique ability to extend a brand’s presence beyond traditional paid media, and together, we’ve created multi-faceted campaigns that go beyond ads—whether it’s a seven-minute short film, buzzy merchandise, custom songs, compelling social content, and more.” 

[Image: courtesy Artists Equity Advertising]

A-listers behind the scenes

Affleck and Damon are obviously the most visible talent in the company’s biggest ads, but Artists Equity Advertising now accounts for nearly a third of the company’s 75-person headcount—a testament to the smart creative hires the company has made in the past two years.

Executive creative director Brandon Piece, was the company’s first advertising hire in 2023. Pierce’s creative pedigree spans legendary shops Wieden+Kennedy, 72andSunny, and Droga5, and before joining Artists Equity Advertising, helped build Hulu’s in-house marketing creative studio. That experience led him to creating Your Attention Please with Craig Robinson, and Amy Schumer’s writers room on season five of Inside Amy Schumer. 

“Ben is a multi hyphenate creative, obviously on the film side,” says Pierce. “And I like to call myself a multi-hyphenate creative that has found a way to successfully transition from traditional advertising to longer-form storytelling, stuff that feels like entertainment, even if it’s for a brand.”

Eight months ago, the company brought in Josh Jeffries as president of advertising. Jeffries’ resume is similarly full of agency experience, including time at Deutsch LA, Anomaly, and 72andSunny. Jeffries—who’s charged with scaling the magic Artists Equity Advertising has been able to conjure over the past few Super Bowls—says the company is being very deliberate in not chasing growth for its own sake, and instead focusing on slowly branching out.

“We’re highly selective of who we want to partner with,” Jeffries says, adding the company likely won’t take on more than two more clients beyond Stella and Dunkin in 2025.

The agency is working to strike the balance between the work Affleck and Damon do and don’t appear in.

After seeing the Dunkin work last year, AB InBev got in touch about its Stella Artois brand, with a goal to help shift its image in the U.S. as an upscale beer to more of a quality everyday indulgence. Enter Dave Beckham. David Beckham was already a brand spokesperson, and Damon had worked with AB InBev in the past, so it was a natural fit for a separated-at-birth concept. The Super Bowl spot is the start of a year-long campaign created by the agency, and most of the work was shot at the same time.

“We want to be cognizant of not having the expectation that Ben and Matt are featured in everything that we do,” says Jeffries. “It’s a healthy way to start, obviously, because it works quite well. There has to be an authentic connection to the brand and the talent themselves.” In addition to the Carpenter spot, this past year included Dunkin ads with Kristen Wiig and Will Arnett. The latter was part of the…ahem… Dunkin Cinematic Universe, with Arnett hiring “Dunkinterns” and gettign creeped out by an Affleck robot.

Super Bowl post-game

In an industry dominated by public holding company behemoths, it’s the rare advertising shop that isn’t pushing to grow as fast and as much as possible. But the strategy for Artists Equity Advertising is about quality over quantity. Not least, Pierce says, because it has a reputation to protect.

Pierce says it’s about keeping the spirit of being a creatively-driven company. “Whether it’s a film, a documentary, a commercial, or a billboard, we try to keep that thread through everything that we do here,” he says “Because ultimately everything we put out in the world has Artists Equity attached to it, so it better be at the level of everything else that we’ve established.”

It’s easy to see what having a film studio as a sibling within the business can do for the advertising side in terms of creative pedigree and access to top tier talent pool. But Affleck says the ad side brings plenty to the film business. Data research, analytics, social media measurement, have all become a part of the overall business. “The difficulty around obtaining capital in order to produce something is the principal hurdle,” says Affleck. “We’ve gotten much deeper into this side of the business because I see all of it as a means by which artists can demonstrate either the value that they’re bringing, or, more effectively exploit the value that they have.”

Advertising and marketing is an industry obsessed with efficiency and efficacy. Those who trade in brand entertainment aim to bridge the gap between art and commerce in a way that delights audiences and helps lift the brand. Much easier said than done. 

Within this dynamic, Artists Equity Advertising is a bit rare find. Big stars taking big swings for big brands, but also being in the room from the start to collaborate on strategy and creative. Over the last two years, the shop’s growing team has just begun to show how that strategy can pay off for brands and creative partners who embrace the approach.

Affleck is excited about the results so far, and the potential in further bridging Hollywood and brandland. “This is a world where the lines are just increasingly blurred,” says Affleck. “I’m interested in how that evolution is taking place, and being part of it.” 

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