a better way to sell insurance.

Working on this week's assignment was definitely a little harder than I expected it to be. I feel like I constantly see ineffective and just plain annoying advertisments, but it took me awhile to remember what they were, and decide which one I thought was least effective.

That said, I narrowed down my category to INSURANCE COMMERCIALS. Almost every commercial done by various insurance companies, whether it be Progressive, State Farm, Allstate, American Family, or Geico, drives me a little crazy. I have had my fill of Flo from the Progressive "shopping center" or whatever that's supposed to be, and I feel like the Geico Gecko is getting pretty old and worn out. 

However, I would gladly live with the Geico Gecko than watch this ad campaign from them, which I feel like could not get any more stupid. See for yourself:

1. Not your daddy...

2. A new gecko...

3. Weird animals...

I think these ads are ineffective because their attempts to show what level of stupidity can be reached by a commercial "made in just 15 minutes" were not clever (at least to me), but just ridiculous. The message they're trying to send is very clear--that you can save money on your car insurance in just 15 minutes rather than waste time making a commercial like the one we wasted time on--but watching the commercials is a waste of time on my part...so...what makes any of this wasted time an effective way to advertise?

Now, as far as an alternative goes, Geico can still capitalize on the idea that it takes very little time to save significant money on car insurance when working with them. In my opinion, the audience that is going to be most interested in finding a way to save money in such a short period of time is the type of people that use their time wisely--they are busy, their days are scheduled out, everything is written down in day planners, etc. The people that don't use their time as efficiently could probably care less whether getting insurance takes them 15 minutes versus a couple of hours.

That said, Geico could make a print ad (I only ever see commercials for Geico...not a lot of print stuff) that could just be very clean and simple, and there could be a page shown out of someone's day planner that is just chockful of various responsibilities, errands, jobs, that this person has to accomplish. There could be one open slot that Geico could slip their name into, and a tagline could be something like "Think you don't have time to ensure your safety? You'd be surprised what we can do in just 15 minutes." Geico...it's a pretty unfinished/rough idea, but I think that sort of message could work for them. 

let the games begin.

The time for March Madness has arrived! I was working Dancesport this weekend, and one of the few things I saw besides dancers covered in self-tanner, hairspray, and glitter, was this commercial:

chocolate vs. peanut butter

I thought this was pretty clever when I saw it. March Madness doesn't have nearly the same magnitude as the Superbowl does, but both events spur the creation of sponsor ads that tend to be more creative than the typical commercial. It's interesting seeing what new ways sponsors come up with to connect their product or brand with whatever event they are being associated with--whether it be the Superbowl, the Oscars, March Madness.

Best of luck on your brackets this month!