Absurd Automobile Insurance TV Ads:
Spewing Silly, Smarty-pants Gibberish 

Continually, I am dumbfounded by the daily and nightly TV assault of cutesy-poo, smart-ass buffoonery in a feeble attempt to focus on the very serious business of auto insurance.

A Sampling of the Craziness
We All Must Endure on TV

Liberty Mutual: "Get your wet teddy bears! One hundred percent guaranteed."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44YYT0mmjSo

Liberty Mutual: "LIMU EMU!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgEJyRk45vo

Nationwide: "What did I just get into?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAcRwxWmSX4

State Farm: "Hey, Drake. Stand-ins don't have lines."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvpq2OjmJvg&list=PLZdmq0GV_dGD6pLlUE8ZMJcuf89i1yY_q

Progressive: "Shouldn't something, y'know wacky, be happening right now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5H_a2nYOxs

Geico: "I'm a gecko. Not Geico. So stop calling me!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkxjzWLjFLE

Allstate: "C'mon. I saw you eating poop earlier."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhXzBsHAEPk

Why Buy Auto Insurance?
Three reasons—and three reasons only:
1. It's the law.
2. If your car is damaged, you want it fixed.
3. If you get sued, you want to come out whole.

The Obvious Message to Drivers and Car Owners
It was Rosser Reeves (1910-1984), senior copywriter for Ted Bates & Co. In 1961 Rosser wrote "Reality in Advertising." It details the basic six points for successful ads and his famous USP concept—Unique Selling Proposition.

1. The USP is the one reason 'why' the product is needed to be bought or was better than is competitors. (Not one of the above wackadoodle TV commercials mentions this.)

3. It must be unique—either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising. (Not one of the above wackadoodle TV commercials mentions this.)

4. The proposition simply states, 'Buy this product and you will get this specific benefit.'  (Not one of the above wackadoodle TVcommercials mentions this.)

 5. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions. (Not one of the above wackadoodle TVcommercials mentions this.) 

6. Reeves believes that the consumer tends to remember just one thing from advertising—one strong claim, or one strong comment. (Not one of the above wackadoodle TVcommercials mentions this.)
—Posted by May-Ann, http://cskills.blogspot.com

 Amazingly, one of the 16 greatest USPs—Unique Selling Propositions—is owned by Allstate:
     "You're in good hands with Allstate."
     —David W. Ellis, General Sales Manager, 1950 

Alas, in the Allstate commercial—where Tiny Fey accuses her companion of eating poop—flashes the world famous "good hands" USP for 1/4th of a second at the very end.

              A Fascinating Aside is the huge heaps of
        money spent in 2019 on these appalling ads:
     Geico                  $1.618 billion
     Progressive.        $1.067billion
     State Farm         $  802million
     Allstate              $  437 million
     Liberty Mutual.    $  435million
     USAA                  $  264million

                USAA: A Serious Player in Insurance
USAA—United Services Automobile Associations—has positioned itself as the all-purpose insurer and friend of active, former and retired members of the American military establishment.

I was drafted into the U.S. Army for two years' service in 1958-1960. The country was at piece between two wars—Korea and Vietnam. I came away with a deep love and reverence for the American military. I reported for duty as a yardbird/buck private in a polo shirt, khaki pants and sneakers. Five days later we were summoned to the quartermaster warehouse and outfitted from top to bottom, inside and out, summer and winter uniforms, two pair each of dress shoes and combat boots. Never in my life—before or since—have I received so much stuff in the course of two hours. I was dazzled!

From the start I was mentored—told what to do, shown how to do it and came away with a lot of skills and knowhow that were useful throughout my entire career. Working in the Army Public Information Office, I was taught how to write press releases and wrote a ton of them. I was assigned to write, direct and narrate a documentary film on a National Guard training camp. I programmed and wrote the script for a radio series of recordings by the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra in Germany that ran on WQXR in New York. Oh, yeah, did my share of KP and oversaw prisoners from the brig doing their menial jobs. And, of course, marched in a slew of parades (which I loved, especially when the band played Sousa). And served on the Armed Forces Day committee. For me the Army was a life changing experience.

Protecting the country is serious—life-and-death stuff—to our military branches. And protecting our military men and women during and after their service is equally serious business to USAA. That said, compare these two thoroughly professional, classic TV commercials to the fatuous crap above.

USAA Auto Insurance
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/Z7CD/usaa-made-for-martin 

USAA Membership
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/tJoK/usaa-i-switched-free-tumbler

Takeaways to Consider

• "People do not buy from clowns." —David Ogilvy

• "Your job is to sell, not entertain." —Jack Maxson

• "Every time we get creative, we lose money."
—Ed McCabe, President, RCA Record Club

• "Learn the current rules so you'll know when you are violating them. All real breakthroughs have been made by people who went outside the so-called rules of their time. In retrospect, these breakthroughs seem logical—because they have now become the new rules."
—John J. Flieder

 • Three Rules for Braking the Rules
— Play by the rules until you have solid controls; you have a higher chance of success and less risk
— Break the rules after you have solid controls, because in breaking rules, the risk—and sometimes the cost—is much higher.
— There are two ways to find a breakthrough: Play the rules better than anybody else. Break the rules better than anybody else.

• Note: USAA is a membership organization. Circulation consultant Dick Benson said if you can turn a magazine into membership organization, you'll raise response 15%. Plus it's a reason to expand and offer members great deals on add-on goods and services. This may be testing in the insurance business à la USAA.

• Check out one of my favorite blog posts: Your Toughest Copywriting Challenge: the USP
http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2018/10/26-your-toughest-copywriting-challenge.html

###

Word Count: 1016

You Are Invited to Meet Denny Hatch and
See His 26-minute Geezer-Fast Yoga Routine

At age 15, Denny Hatch—as a lowly apprentice—wrote his first news release for a Connecticut summer theater. To his astonishment it ran verbatim in The Middletown Press.He was instantly hooked on writing. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1958-60), Denny had nine jobs in his first 12 years in business. He was fired from five of them and went on to save two businesses and start three others. One of his businesses—WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletterand archive service founded in 1984—revolutionized the science of how to measure the success of competitors’ direct mail. In the past 55 yearshe has been a book club director, magazine publisher, advertising copywriter/designer, editor, journalist and marketing consultant. He is the author of four published novels and seven books on business and marketing.

CONTACT 
Denny Hatch
The St. James
200 West Washington Square, #3007
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-644-9526 (Rings on my desk) 
dennyhatch@yahoo.com

Note to Readers:  
May I send you an alert when each new blog is posted? Ifso, kindly give me the okay by sending your First Name, Last Name and email to dennyhatch@yahoo.com. I guarantee your personal information will not be shared with anyone at any time for any reason. The blog is afree service. No cost. No risk. No obligation. Cancel any time. I look forward to being in touch!

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE POSTING A COMMENT… Email Me!
Googleowns Blogspot.com and this Comment Section. If you do not have a Googleaccount — or if you find it too damn complicated — contact me directly and Iwill happily post your comment with a note that this is per your permission. Thank you and do keep in touch. dennyhatch@yahoo.com

Invitation to Marketers and Direct Marketers: 
Guest Blog Posts Are Welcome. 
If you have a marketing story to tell, case history, concept to propose or a memoir, give a shout. I’ll get right back to you. I am: dennyhatch@yahoo.com
215-644-9526 (rings on my desk).

You Are Invited to Join the Discussion