Do you wish your wife were more like Flo, the ever-peppy, white-aproned saleswoman for Progressive Insurance? Do you wish your home were more like the Superstore, the white-walled setting of dozens of Progressive commercials, and regular habitat of Flo? Probably not. Still, this new spot from ad agency Arnold shows you what it would feel like anyway. It starts off with the sort of fairly routine "Have you heard about [Product X]?" discussion about which only marketers fantasize, and ends with a husband's whole world—including his spouse—being transformed into a scene from a light-filled insurance salesroom. According to Progressive, it's the first Superstore ad sans Flo—or at least, with Stephanie Courtney as Flo. She is approaching her 100th commercial for the brand, but also finds herself joined by a growing cast of characters and guest stars. Naysayers, don't get your hopes up, though—she's survived much worse than a little vacation.
Recently, British insurance comparison service Confused.com and Publicis in London launched ads featuring a new mascot, Brian the Robot, who seems to have a knack for creating uncomfortable situations. Specifically, in one of the spots, he appears to interrupt a couple in mid-blow job. The brand has since denied this interpretation, with the director of marketing telling British advertising site Campaign, "Admittedly, the woman is somewhat startled by Brian appearing in the car window, having been tying her shoelace." The shoelace argument doesn't quite match with Confused's own write-up about the ad, which describes the setting as "a romantic spot overlooking a city at sunset" where "we see Brian approach a lone parked car and tap on one of the closed windows, interrupting a couple looking slightly flustered." According to several YouTube commenters, a newer version of the ad now shows the couple kissing, likely due to dozens of complaints to Britain's Advertising Standards Authority that the original version was inappropriate for children. Check out more of Brian's odd interactions after the jump.
Call out the cat herders! A bunch of kitties stampede down the streets of Croydon, England, in Mother's new spot for MoneySuperMarket. "Bill here just saved £304 on his car insurance at MoneySuperMarket and now feels so good he thinks he can run with wolves,” the narrator explains, before noting almost apologetically, “There are no wolves in Croydon." So, the guy runs with the neighborhood cats instead. That's about it. The client tells The Drum it was seeking to maintain "a more British look and feel to the campaign," which certainly holds true for the visuals, though it makes the choice of music, the very American "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," from Oklahoma, feel out of place. The concept starts strong but doesn’t prove to be particularly memorable in its payoff, especially when there are so many feline-themed ads—and spots with swarming creatures of all sorts—it'd take nine lives just to watch them all. Credits after the jump.
Fifty-five years is a good run for any corporate logo, but now Farmers Insurance is replacing its old mark with a new one—keeping several of the original design elements but giving it a sleeker, more contemporary look. The company's first logo, unveiled upon its founding in 1928, featured a sunrise to represent the optimism of a new day. Thirty years later, a shield was added to symbolize protection. That's the way it remained, until now. The new logo, designed in collaboration with Lippincott in New York, keeps the sun and shield—but otherwise has a whole new look. Farmers CMO Mike Linton tells Adweek that it's a "nice evolution." He maintains that a strong logo is critical in distinguishing oneself in today's saturated insurance marketplace. Farmers unveiled the new logo to its sales force at a big meeting in Chicago last week. Asked if logo debacles like Gap's gave Farmers pause in changing its logo, Linton replied, "We researched this to pieces." The company considered hundreds of options in a process that lasted several months, he added.
They say celebrity endorsements are a questionable investment, but as you can see below, they can be staggeringly successful—if the celebrity is Dikembe Mutombo and the target market is this particular baby. The Martin Agency will enjoy this. Wonder what the kid thinks of the "Hump Day" spot.
Here is Geico's latest commercial from The Martin Agency. Uploaded on hump day, it's all about hump day. And it stars a certain mammal that hails from the Middle East and Africa. You can see where this is going. Part of the insurance company's ongoing "Happier Than" campaign. Silliness at its best. Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Geico
Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va. Chief Creative Officer: Joe Alexander Group Creative Director: Steve Bassett Creative Director: Wade Alger Creative Director, Art Director: Sean Riley Senior Copywriter: Ken Marcus Executive Broadcast Producer: Molly Souter Producer: Samantha Tucker Junior Producer: Emily Taylor Strategic Planner: Melissa Cabral Group Account Director: Chris Mumford Account Director: Liz Toms Account Supervisor Parker Collins Account Coordinator: Carter Crenshaw Project Manager: Susan Karns
Group Talent Director: Suzanne Wieringo Production Business Manager: Amy Trenz
Production Company: Hungry Man Director: Wayne McClammy Director of Photography: Tim Ives Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Kevin Byrne Producer: Nate Young Production Supervisor: Steve Ruggieri
Editorial Company: Mackenzie Cutler Editor: Ian MacKenzie Editor: Dave Koza Assistant Editor: Carmen Hu Editorial Producer: Evan Meeker Director of Operations: Biz Lunskey
Visual Effects: The Mill Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris Producer: Colin Blaney Shoot Supervisor: Tony Robins 2-D Lead Artist: Randy McEntee 2-D Artists: Tony Robins, Paul Downes, Jamin Clutcher Art Support: Rob Meade 3-D Lead Artist: Kevin Ives 3-D Artists: Billy Dangyoon Jang, Olivier Varteressian, Laurent Giaume, Justin Diamond, Sean Dooley, Joshua Merck, Hassan Taimur, Wyatt Savarese, Samuel Crees, Ross Scroble
Audio Post, Sound Design: Rainmaker Studios Engineer: Jeff McManus Music: "Happier Than" theme song by Adam Schlesinger
Principal Actors in Spot: "Ronny" – Alex Harvey "Jimmy" – Timothy Cole Musical Duo in all spots
"Hump Day" "Mike" – Michael Clark "Julie" – Lindsay Stoddart "Leslie" – Leslie Tsina "Camel VO" – Chris Sulivan Voiceover announcer: Andrew Anthony
Progressive takes a swipe at "rate suckers" in this odd spot depicting bad drivers who cause price increases for everyone else as zombies who leap onto your car and suck on its surfaces with their gaping mouths. They hang on tenaciously in traffic, and continue sucking even after the driver stops and chats with a pitchlady (not Flo) about Progressive's Snapshot travel monitoring device (which, FYI, has raised some privacy concerns among consumer groups). The suck-action, for lack of a better term, is damn disconcerting, and such a distraction that it detracts from the overall message. Stop drooling on the hood, you freaks! It's strange there's no Flo. She's sucked for years.
Hey, the Pillsbury Doughboy appears in The Martin Agency's latest "Happier Than … " commercial for Geico. I thought he'd done so a while back, but it turns out that was Eddie Money. Eddie's tunes are so poppin' fresh. In the new spot, the Doughboy giggles his way through an airport security check, illustrating that people who save money by switching to Geico are "Happier than the Pillsbury Doughboy on his way to a baking convention." It's a better commercial crossover than most—less strained, for example, than Mr. Clean and the Target bull's-eye pooch shilling for Xerox. Too bad Geico's gecko wasn't on hand to fight Doughboy to the death to determine which ad mascot is best. I guess that's something I'll only enjoy in dreams. Go on, smack him, gecko … bite his doughy ass!
CREDITS Client: Geico Spot: "Doughboy"
Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va. Chief Creative Officer Joe Alexander Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director: Steve Bassett Vice Presicent, Creative Director: Wade Alger Senior Vice President, Art Director, Creative Director: Sean Riley Senior Copywriter: Ken Marcus Vice President, Agency Executive Broadcast Producer: Molly Souter Agency Producer: Samantha Tucker Agency Junior Producer: Emily Taylor Strategic Planner: Melissa Cabral Account Team: Chris Mumford, Brad Higdon, Parker Collins, Carter Crenshaw, Susan Karns
Group Talent Director: Suzanne Wieringo Production Business Manager: Amy Trenz
Production Company: Hungry Man Director: Wayne McClammy Director of Photography: Tim Ives Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Kevin Byrne Producer: Nate Young Production Supervisor: Steve Ruggieri
Editorial Company: Makenzie Cutler Editor: Ian MacKenzie Editor: Dave Koza Assistant Editor: Carmen Hu Editorial Producer: Evan Meeker Director of Operations: Biz Lunskey
Visual Effects: The Mill Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris Producer: Colin Blaney Shoot Supervisor: Tony Robins 2-D Lead Artist: Randy McEntee 2-D Artists: Tony Robins, Paul Downes, Jamin Clutcher Art Support: Rob Meade 3-D Lead Artist: Kevin Ives 3-D Artists: Billy Dangyoon Jang, Olivier Varteressian, Laurent Giaume, Justin Diamond, Sean Dooley, Joshua Merck, Hassan Taimur, Wyatt Savarese, Samuel Crees, Ross Scroble Matte Painter: Can Y. Sanalan Colorist: Fergus McCall Doughboy Animation: Topix Creative Director: Steven Hollman Senior Producer: Christina Lord
Audio Post, Sound Design: Rainmaker Studios Engineer: Jeff McManus Music: "Happier Than" theme song by Adam Schlesinger
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