Since 2013, SDN Communications has debuted its annual commercials during the biggest television event of the year.
This year was no different. SDN kicked off its 2025 campaign Sunday night during The Big Game with the debut of “We’re Flying”. It will be aired over the next four months and be followed by two more spots later in the year.
Similar to the 2024 slate of commercials, the new ads are centered around a testimonial format where a manager of a company describes how SDN helped his business quickly resolve service requests. The 2024 commercials showed how SDN staff rushed to solve the problem, while the 2025 campaign highlights the difference in service before and after using metaphors.
Fresh Produce, SDN’s advertising agency partner, developed and produced the commercials after brainstorming with the SDN marketing team.
“We were thinking about that interview format, and when somebody's interviewing you about something, they might ask you how you feel about it,” Fresh Produce creative director Kyle Jameson said. “If you're giving a better answer than, ‘Oh, great,’ you might use a metaphor or an analogy to be like, ‘Well, it’s kind of like this … . And we thought, ‘Well, this will be fun to work with.’”
The first ad compares what it’s like to move a desk alone and ends with the same task being completed by a moving team. A second ad shows frustrated employees waiting for their turn for coffee and later having their own coffee machine. A third commercial highlights an awkward office handshake compared to one that rivals the complexity of some touchdown celebrations.
All three metaphors end the same way – with SDN’s fiber-fast internet, reliable network and customer service saving the day. The Big Game ad focuses on SDN’s role in easing the IT stress of network expansion during business growth.
SDN Communications Marketing Manager Hannah Boquet said SDN customers frequently praise the company for its customer service and how it prioritizes their needs.
“Our 2025 campaign is all about showing what SDN does for its customers and how we make complex tasks easier for them,” Boquet said. “The metaphors are a unique way to highlight that.”
SDN commercials filmed in Sioux Falls
SDN Communications and its 17 member-owner companies pride themselves on the fact that they are South Dakota-based and understand their customers, Boquet said.
That’s why it’s important to have their commercials be professionally produced by talented local companies and people, she said.
To that end, Fresh Produce filmed the three commercials over three days at the ISG offices in The Bancorp Building overlooking the Arc of Dreams in downtown Sioux Falls.
During the final shot of each commercial, the Arc of Dreams makes an appearance.
“We wanted it to feel local,” Jameson said. “This is a South Dakota company. It's a South Dakota ad. Everything about it is South Dakota.”
And like past campaigns, SDN employees are featured heavily. Three of them can be seen moving the desk in the debut ad. Three more employees are the frustrated coworkers during the coffee commercial, and Boquet herself makes an appearance in all three as the interviewer.
“I love that our employees are not only excited about being part of our annual commercial campaign, but super expressive and easy to work with. When our commercials premiere, we almost always get phone calls from our team’s friends and family about seeing them on TV.”
The magic behind the ads
Fresh Produce’s advanced production work and planning make the ads look effortless, Boquet said, but there was a lot that went into seemingly simple shots.
For the Big Game ad, Fresh Produce set up a camera on a dolly to follow the desk down the hallway. The desk itself was made specifically for the commercial by director Brett Bittner.
Actor Corey Mills, who traveled from the Minneapolis area to portray the unnamed manager featured in all three ads, met with Sioux Falls-based Clinton Store to practice several elaborate handshake combinations. Jameson said a lot of humorous takes had to be left on the cutting room floor.
In the coffee ad, Bittner rigged a Keurig machine to dispense drips of coffee via remote.
“From the dreaming, scripting, planning, shooting and finally editing, our commercials are carefully curated by some of the best to showcase how SDN can help organizations solve problems in unique and efficient ways,” Boquet said. “Explaining “why SDN” can be complex, so we rely on visual storytelling and levity to get the messages across in a professional, light and hopefully memorable way.”
