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:
The Pitch:
If you won’t listen to our friendly, helpful spokespeople, maybe what you need is the reverse of that.
For a great many years, Flo has been the face of Progressive Insurance: a friendly, bubbly insurance rep eager to explain the benefits of bundling your home and auto insurance. After a while, they decided to give Flo a sidekick in the form of Jamie, who was the same sort of friendly, helpful character, if a bit more of a doofus.
But when they decided to expand their spokespeople into a larger ensemble, it was clear some more varied personalities would be needed. Enter: Mara, whose cynical attitude and deadpan delivery makes them the opposite of Flo … but no less of an effective spokesperson.
The cynical spokesperson approach is something that, if not handled carefully, can go very wrong – see our early Ad Space on Mr. Delicious for a prime example. But what makes Mara work, I feel, is that the character is never cynical about Progressive Insurance. Cynical about sales strategies, obnoxious co-workers, and life in general, sure – but that cynicism never gets around to impugning the product they’re shilling.
So you get some good laughs out of cynical humor, but still have Progressive come out of it smelling like roses: win-win.