It's no secret that potential clients find insurance, specifically car insurance, a boring and uninteresting topic. And even though many insurance professionals are passionate about their profession, it’s not unusual for them to feel the same way. To take the edge off, insurance company marketers devised an ingenious way to present the typically uninteresting topic – by using humor in their car insurance marketing strategies.
In this article, we’ll show and discuss some of the successful ways that big car insurance companies in the US used humor to sell their insurance products to target audiences.
Here are our top picks for some of the most hilarious and effective marketing campaigns for car insurance companies. If you’re an insurance agent, broker, or run an insurance agency, you can look at these campaigns for inspiration for your car insurance marketing ideas. These campaigns are listed in chronological order.
US insurance company GEICO is famed for its prolific use of funny ads to push their products. Here are its more famous insurance marketing campaigns which tickled consumers’ funny bone:
This wholly owned Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary has used its now-iconic gecko mascot for over 25 years. First introduced in 1999, the adorable reptile was the brainchild of The Martin Agency. Insurance Business even listed this series of ads as among the ten best insurance commercials of all time in America.
What made the GEICO gecko a success was its unique way of telling interesting and relevant stories that consumers could relate to, then explaining how GEICO’s insurance products would benefit consumers.
According to The Martin Agency’s blog post, GEICO’s signature slogan “15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on your car insurance” enjoys immense recall by consumers and remains synonymous with the GEICO brand.
Even more famous but with shorter longevity were the GEICO cavemen. Introduced in 2004, These were Neanderthal-like fictional characters that took issue with GEICO’s alternate tagline, “So easy a caveman can do it”.
The GEICO caveman became so popular with consumers that a spinoff TV series based on several cavemen trying to navigate modern life was proposed and produced. Unfortunately, however, the Cavemen TV series was short-lived due to poor ratings and negative sentiment among viewers.
To avoid brand fatigue or ad fatigue, GEICO made another series of car insurance marketing campaigns that features neither the gecko nor the caveman. This alternative bunch of ads played on the idea that if you ask whether GEICO car insurance saves you money, it's answered with a funny rhetorical question such as, “does Elmer Fudd have trouble with the letter r?”. Actor Mike McGlone, using a film-noir type of narration, asks each rhetorical question in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
If GEICO has its gecko and caveman, Progressive Insurance is not to be outdone in the use of brand mascots. Progressive’s most recognizable face is Flo – one of the best insurance mascots of all-time – played by actress Stephanie Courtney. Thanks to Flo’s upbeat and enthusiastic attitude, and the simple way she explains Progressive Insurance’s benefits made her one of advertising’s most recognized icons.
Progressive Insurance’s Flo campaign makes auto insurance sound less mundane, and her character often interacts with other characters to showcase its products in comedic fashion.
Allstate Insurance has a slightly different take on using a mascot by personifying mayhem itself. In their campaign, Allstate hired actor Dean Winters of John Wick fame to play the “human version” of unpredictable mayhem caused by unexpected events.
In each of the different versions, Mayhem takes on the guise of different causes of auto damage, like a reckless teenaged driver or an old, rusty boat hitch.
After these accidents trigger in comical fashion, Mayhem then advises viewers to get Allstate car insurance to protect themselves from the, well, mayhem caused by unforeseen circumstances.
Farmers Insurance created a mascot as well. The mascot was fictional character Professor Nathaniel Burke, played by Hollywood actor J.K. Simmons of Spider-Man and The Accountant and The Accountant 2 fame. This series of ads typically took place in the fictional University’s Hall of Claims and was used to highlight very unusual and often hilarious incidents that Farmers would cover.
Although this series of ads in this campaign tackled P&C insurance in general, Farmers had a couple of very funny car insurance marketing campaigns.
Liberty Mutual also went the mascot route by creating fictional characters. Some of its prominent car insurance marketing ads feature LiMu, who is an emu with the first two syllables of Liberty Mutual as its name. Doug is the human sidekick whom audiences can look to when Liberty Mutual products need explanation.
Their series of ads is a parody of buddy-cop films from the 70s and 80s. These ads typically use out-of-the-box humor and references to old movies as their way of promoting customizable car insurance options.
If after watching the ads for each of these insurance companies, you assume that the return on investment (ROI) was significant, you would assume correctly. There were varying but positive results for each of these funny ads touted as part of the best car insurance marketing campaigns. Here’s what our research team found out about the ROI of these daring efforts:
Although specific ROI figures are not explicitly detailed for each of their campaigns, GEICO became among the largest car insurance providers in the US. GEICO taking a big chunk of the country's auto insurance market can be largely attributed to these ad campaigns and its robust $500 million ad budget.
Allstate ran its “Mayhem” campaign in 2010. After running for two full fiscal quarters, the company saw a sales increase of nearly 5 percent, earning $7.9 billion. What’s more, Allstate enjoyed a 200 percent increase in policy inquiries after launching the car insurance marketing campaign.
Flo became one of the most iconic characters in insurance advertising, which was good for Progressive. According to AC Nielsen, Progressive experienced a 38 percent increase in brand awareness within the first three years of the campaign. By 2019, Progressive took the spot for the third largest auto insurance company in the US in terms of market share, right behind GEICO.
In addition, Flo’s robust social media presence garnered over four million views on YouTube. The sizeable ROI from the Flo campaign prompted Progressive to increase their media buys.
The Hall of Claims campaign has led to enhanced brand awareness and consideration. The digital component of this campaign drove more than 3.4 million people to visit the Hall of Claims website. That led to a 115 percent increase in visits to Farmers.com, along with a 127 percent increase in insurance quotes. Also, consideration rates for Farmers Insurance rose by 33 percent.
Farmers’ campaign also received ad industry recognition, garnering a Silver Effie in the Insurance Category and a Bronze Effie in the David vs. Goliath Category. Farmers won both at the 2018 North American Effie Awards.
Liberty Mutual’s LiMu and Doug campaign was first launched in late February 2019. Although the campaign has been around for some time, the exact ROI derived from this campaign has not been publicly divulged. However, independent market research from MarketCast has shown that the campaign has been very effective in key advertising performance metrics.
The campaign has achieved an Ad Breakthrough score of +9 percent against the norm, a branding rating of +18 percent, and a messaging score of +16 percent. All these metrics and figures point to strong brand recall and message retention for Liberty Mutual. These performance metrics strongly suggest that the campaign delivered significant value in terms of brand awareness and consumer engagement, both of which are critical drivers of ROI in insurance marketing.
How and why humor works in car insurance marketing
As you can glean from the results, these car insurance companies reaped the benefits of using humorous ad campaigns and achieved (or perhaps even surpassed) their marketing objectives. So, here’s how humor worked for them and may do so for your insurance practice:
Funny ads make brands stand out in a crowded market. This is especially true of insurance, which is viewed as a complex and dull product. Churning out humorous ads helps insurance companies enhance brand recall and awareness, thus making them more memorable to consumers.
Industry experts and even AC Nielsen confirm this – funny ads are also more likely to be remembered, talked about, and shared online.
AC Nielsen describes this as the emotive power of marketing. When used properly, humor keeps the brand top-of-mind and is more likely to be considered when consumers are ready to purchase insurance. This is essential when it comes to insurance, since consumers are always on the lookout for a better deal.
Humor can evoke a powerful positive connection with your insurance brand. Laughter releases mood-improving endorphins, so when a brand ad makes people laugh, they associate the brand with positive emotions. Consumers are more likely to remember and have good things to say about the company.
Humor can also turn a faceless insurance brand into a trusted, relatable partner who fosters deeper connections with potential clients.
Here are some of the best insurance ad campaigns to model your marketing efforts on.
Traditionally, the insurance industry has used fear-based messaging in their marketing campaigns. But by switching to humor, insurance and insurance brands appear less intimidating. By lightening the mood around buying insurance, consumers are less skeptical and are more receptive to an insurance brand.
It’s now a widely-accepted fact that funny ads are more likely to be shared on social media. This translates to higher organic breach and more cost-effective brand exposure. You can use our cheat sheet to ensure that your digital content goes viral.
The hilarious car insurance marketing campaigns listed above have also become cultural touchstones, which made brands stand out and increase market share.
Research has shown that there is a significant direct correlation between willingness to rely on humor-based ads and the intent to purchase insurance. When funny ads trigger positive feelings, this enhances consumers’ trust and increases their desire to buy from the brand. This is how humorous ads can contribute to lead generation.
These car insurance companies found that humor can work to attract potential customers and raise awareness about their brand and products. The good news is that using humor shouldn’t be confined to car insurance. If done properly, there’s no reason that these car insurance marketing strategies can’t be applied to other P&C lines or life insurance too.
Using humor in your campaigns shouldn’t be underestimated, as it is helpful in piquing consumers’ interest in car insurance, which is typically considered mundane and uninteresting. But remember, a funny advertising campaign is only one part of a larger marketing effort.
Ideally, these car insurance marketing examples should be part of a broader content marketing and social media marketing campaign. In our internet-dominated world, an online presence via social media platforms is essential for insurance businesses.
When creating humorous campaigns or ads, there is one important caveat: make sure that the humor you use is neither distasteful nor inappropriate. You should also make sure that the humor is used to get people interested in your offerings, not detract from your message or steal the show.
A good guideline is to keep this in mind: funny ad campaigns should benefit the brand. Make certain that funny ads make the brand more prominent on online search results, drive traffic to websites, and make consumers want to engage with your brand on social media platforms.
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