Creating a Category by Reducing Complexity + 1 Marketing Life Lesson
Also, sometimes increasing digital penetration is bad
Hello Gobbledeers,
How’s it going? You had a nice break? You’ve already forgotten about that break? I’m so sorry.
We’ve got a lot to get to this week, let’s jump in…
4 Marketing Lessons from Progressive Insurance + 1 Life Lesson from Progressive Insurance
Back when maybe 11 of you subscribed to this newsletter, I wrote about the evolution of insurance marketing. Here’s a very, very quick summary:
Insurance marketing was heavily regulated.
So insurance companies just made their ads about buying security for your family.
And we discussed a very upsetting Allstate campaign suggesting that you might die and leave your baby alone:
Then Geico came along and stopped telling people they might die and instead just featured a cartoon character with a funny accent.
That was so successful that most other insurance companies stopped reminding people they may drop dead in an untimely manner and instead suggested they look at an emu.
Now you’re caught up.
This weekend, Caity Weaver in the NY Times wrote a piece (that I am 1000% insanely jealous of) about the actress who plays Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials. It pains me that someone can write something about marketing that is so good and also not about marketing at all. If you haven’t read that story, please read it.
But you won’t read it, and I’m OK with that. I’m nothing if not generous, and my generosity today will involve sharing 4 marketing insights from that article that have stuck with me (and 1 life lesson).
Ready?
Here we go.
You know how it feels like you constantly see commercials for Progressive? That’s because you constantly see commercials for Progressive. They spent $2 billion on advertising in the US last year. There’s a chicken & egg situation here, as I know they loved the Flo campaign, and they kept ramping up spending because it was driving new insurance policies.
But I could also be convinced that if you bought $2 billion of media for your company, the ubiquity of the messaging would matter more than the messaging itself. Though I think that’s probably wrong.Is it possible that the reason most software CEOs think that marketing is ineffective is because they won’t allow the marketing team to spend enough to make it effective? If we can agree that the Flo campaign is the best campaign in the history of advertising, we can probably also agree that we wouldn’t say that if they spent $2 million a year.
You may not remember (or care) that the early versions of the commercials revolved around a “superstore” that was all white and was filled with boxes and cans that were supposed to represent insurance products.
In a video that the company made about the campaign, the CEO talks about how putting insurance in boxes and on shelves is a “metaphor that took people into their comfort zone.” That sounds like gobbledy, but it’s not - they hit on something really clever here. That Allstate ad (above) with the baby was whatever the opposite of a metaphor is - it was meant to make you uncomfortable. By abstracting the complexity of the product (how do I even know what the right level of insurance coverage to buy?) they made consumers comfortable by suggesting it’s just the same as buying a box of cereal.
You know how your CEO is always talking about how important it is to create a category? And then you’re filled with dread because the category is always something abstract and incomprehensible? It doesn’t have to be - you can create a category by making something LESS complex. Insurance that’s as easy to buy as cereal.This was also a brilliant insight: “The original idea behind these ads…was to transform insurance from something people had to pay for into something people got to shop for.”
Said another way [and that may possibly be more useful for you] - what’s the opportunity that your product presents for the buyer. Progressive gives the buyer the opportunity to shop for insurance. Email marketing software doesn’t give you the opportunity to send emails. Email marketing software gives the email marketer the opportunity to be the best goddamned marketer in the industry. Substack doesn’t send newsletters. It gives you the opportunity to be an author.You likely forgot that I said the article was about Stephanie Courtney, the actress who plays Flo - the article isn’t about insurance marketing. But it’s really about what happens when you have an incredibly successful career, though not in exactly the way you hoped.
Courtney talks about her struggles to get roles beyond Flo, and how she’s working on a screenplay because nobody will hire her to act in their movie. Yet she has reached the pinnacle of one segment of her profession - she’s arguably the most successful commercial actress ever. And yet…
The article concludes:
”What sane person would not make the most extreme version of this trade — tabling any and all creative aspirations, possibly forever, in exchange for free prosciutto; testing well with the general market, the Black and the Hispanic communities; delighted co-workers and employers; more than four million likes on Facebook; and, though tempered with the constant threat of being rendered obsolete by unseen corporate machinations, the peace of having “enough”? Do we deny ourselves the pleasure of happiness by conceiving of it as something necessarily total, connoting maximum satisfaction in every arena?”
Do we deny ourselves the pleasure of happiness by conceiving of it as something necessarily total, connoting maximum satisfaction in every arena?
Maybe it’s just me, but I sometimes will scroll through LinkedIn, and I’ll see people posting about getting a new job and I’ll get a gross feeling crawling through my skin. You know that feeling. It’s 93% jealousy + 7% “they don’t deserve that.” It’s embarrassing to admit that. And it’s a reflex. I can’t control it.
But since I’ve been off on my own, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m trying to accomplish. For example, you’re reading one of the things I’m trying to accomplish - writing about marketing in a way that’s mildly-to-somewhat-more-than-mildly enjoyable. I also have clients I enjoy working with.
I have - as the author of that article mentions - the peace of having enough.
I think for most of us, it’s much easier to think about a less extreme version of the bargain she mentions above — would you trade some of the money and industry recognition, possibly forever, for the opportunity to work with people you enjoy, produce something you’re proud of, and not feel like you’re being ignored, in exchange for the peace of having enough?
I suspect you would. And I also suspect you have the opportunity right now to make that trade. Choose enough.
I didn’t mean for this to be an Anthony Robbins “rah rah, change your life” kinda thing. That’s my bad.
So to make it up to you, I’m now going to dump all of my Thanksgiving marketing leftovers in your lap. Which is to say - I’ve seen a bunch of things sitting in a doc and waiting for a place to put them. This is that place.
Every Bit of Copy Should Reflect Your Brand
I recently subscribed to Garbage Day, a great newsletter about odd digital content. The guy who writes it has a pretty distinctive voice, so it was fitting that the subject line of the email you receive after subscribing also had his voice:
All copy should be in your brand voice. All copy.
Duh
Let’s dig into why Ugg boots have seen improved revenue recently:
I’m no genius, but “developing targeting inventory around the brand’s most popular products” means, “remember how we used to run out of shoes people wanted to buy? We decided to change our strategy and actually have products people want.”
See? Retail isn’t so difficult.
Or maybe it is…
Retail Marketing Is Hard
Hm…Old Navy has struggled for a while, but they’ve recently seen some improvement in their finances. I wonder what they did?
Ohhhh! They stopped selling off-trend products and started selling on-trend products. Smart.
Experiencing the Digits
Am I proud of myself that when I saw this Digital Experience job posting for waxing salon European Wax Center I immediately thought, “I really hope that waxing salon is not trying to increase digital penetration”? No, I’m not.
Did I go back and forth for like a month about posting it here? Yes I did.
Did I come to my senses and not post it? Obviously not.
You’re welcome. And I’m sorry.
As always, thanks for reading to the bottom. I’m always happy to chat about your marketing concerns - here’s my Calendly link. It’s a free 25 minute consultation. The people I’ve met with usually just want to chat about their messaging and see what I think. That’s a good use of that time. Or you can yell at me for that digital penetration thing. Your call.
Or you can just shoot me an email by hitting reply…
Looking forward to when you summarize your summary for all your new, new subscribers in another year.
Everything I've learned about marketing I learned from you. And Don Draper. (I almost made a follow up joke about digital penetration, but I didn't. And we're all better for it. Ish.)