You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

The Product:
Progressive Insurance

The Promotions:
(couldn’t do embeds this week, so please follow the links)
“Old Flame”
“Table for Two”
“Jamie’s Advice”
“Bundle Song”
“Hand”
“Hammergency”

The Pitch:
Even Jon Hamm can’t compete with the allure of great deals with Progressive!

I’ve been wanting to cover Progressive’s Flo commercials for a while, but haven’t quite known where to start. This ad campaign has been going consistently since 2008, producing hundreds of commercials, introducing supporting characters and running gags … trying to sum them all up in one Ad Space was just not a task I was up for.

So I decided to focus on this one weird little storyline they did. See, it’s all based on the fact that Stephanie Courtney, who plays Flo, also had a minor role in the first season of the TV show Mad Men, starring Jon Hamm. What these commercials posit is it was actually Flo, not Courtney, who appeared on Mad Men, and that Jon Hamm has carried a torch for the peppy insurance rep ever since. But, despite Hamm having risen to stardom and being drooled over by millions, they can never win Flo’s love … because Flo is an advertising mascot whose heart, mind, and soul are entirely devoted to shilling Progressive.

It’s such a thoroughly meta concept, while also working on the level of being, in essence, a stock sitcom plot (complete with celebrity guest star) told in the form of a series of short commercials, and I just love it.

We may see more of Flo (and Jamie, and Mara, and that other guy) on future Ad Spaces, because, believe you me, these commercials were only the very teeniest tip of the iceberg.