The direct-to-consumer car insurance company has launched a new integrated ad campaign around the concept, “Insurance for the Modern World.” The effort, via Leo Burnett, includes TV, streaming radio, cinema, in-flight, online video and more. It debuts on CBS during the 1:00 p.m. NFL game on 12/24. Additionally, the new commercials will be available exclusively on the Esurance Facebook page at www.facebook.com/esurance.
Esurance’s Danny Miller gave RBR-TVBR details on the buy:
Television:
NFL on CBS
Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman and Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Mike and Molly, Two and a Half Men, Hawaii Five-O, NCIS, The Mentalist, Good Wife, CSI Miami
National buys on 45+ networks including USA, TNT, Comedy Central, ESPN, and HGTV
National syndication buys, including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Burn Notice, and Family Guy
DirectTV and Dish
Online:
Yahoo, CBS, CNN, AOL, and Google, with additional streaming on Pandora
John Krasinski, star of “The Office,” does voiceover for the new campaign, adding personality, candor, and wit to a visual narrative that captures the reality of our modern world while emphasizing the interconnectedness of our real and digital lives. The campaign also features the Grammy Award winning song, “Jam Man,” from Country Music Hall of Fame guitarist Chet Atkins.
Esurance was acquired by Allstate in October 2011. This campaign is the first time on a national scale that consumers will see Esurance represented as an Allstate company.
The campaign is focused on self-directed consumers who shop for and buy their insurance online. The ads engage consumers in a smart conversation about their car insurance. One ad asks consumers how they decide if a car insurance company is “trustworthy” or not. Another highlights the innumerable savings claims made by car insurers and suggests that Esurance is better positioned to save consumers money because it was “born online, raised by technology, and majors in efficiency.”
“The campaign brings a fresh voice to an incredibly crowded category. We think consumers are tiring of the escalating silliness of many car insurance commercials, many of which focus solely on price,” said Esurance Chief Marketing Officer John Swigart. “We deliberately chose a voice and feel that contrast with the atmosphere we’ve seen in some recent car insurance ads.”
RBR-TVBR observation: Amen to that. While car insurance campaigns of late were initially creative and witty, it seems they all are over-killing the concept that weird characters and bizarre situations are somehow going to get you to buy car insurance. Nationwide’s “World’s Greatest Spokesperson,” with his ubiquitous blue phone; the Progressive Insurance girl “Flo” and the idiot former State Farm Insurance client with his vertically-wrecked car can be tiresome!
