Some Good AD-vice: Progressive-Rate Suckers

Progressive started a new campaign a couple months ago not featuring their usual mascot Flo, the peppy salesclerk. Progressive, the fourth-largest U.S. auto insurer, recently came out with a new product called Snapshot. This commercial, called "Rate Suckers" promotes the new product. Snapshot is a mechanism plugged into the car's onboard diagnostic port. It measures how safe a driver is by recording the number of times a driver brakes hard, the time of day, and the number of miles they drive over a six month period. Progressive calculates the results and people who drive safely get permanent discounts.

This Progressive campaign is meant to promote Snapshot because 63 percent of drivers did not know that the bad driving of others affected their car insurance rates according to Progressive.com. This commercial depicts bad drivers as zombie-like Rate Suckers who attach to the car of a safe driver. However, the Rate Suckers are repelled by a rescuer who offers the driver Snapshot. According to Jeff Charney, Progressive's chief marketing officer, "A Rate Sucker is simply an over-the-top manifestation of an underpriced driver and can be anybody-your mom, the guy next door, the waiter at your favorite restaurant...We all probably know somebody we're subsidizing. Snapshot helps solve that problem; showing customers that their good driving can reduce the impact other drivers have on their rate. This campaign is our line in the sand to the industry and a wake-up call to consumers." Especially since zombies are so apparent in pop culture right now, I think Progressive made a very creative, humorous, and relevant commercial.

Humor: 5

Besides Snapshot being an original innovation, Progressive's commercial is also very funny. I am sure this commercial reached Progressive's target audience of drivers 17 and over. However, I believe Progressive did a good job in keeping this commercial appropriate for all ages by not making the Rate Suckers scary but humorous. Because of its uniqueness, I think this commercial will last in people's memories and hopefully the product too!

Effectiveness: 2

Progressive's CEO Glenn Renwick stated that the new campaign has been "very acceptable, but short of a breakout." However, the campaign has not instilled a lot of notice about the new product and has raised privacy concerns. Renwick also discussed surveys of prospective Snapshot users. He stated that the surveys show that "you get about 30 percent of people saying 'Yeah why not?'; you get another 30 percent of people saying, 'Maybe, I need to know more'; and you get about 40 percent of people saying, 'No way.'" Renwick went further and said "Selling Snapshot has been a 'bigger burden' than many in the company would have assumed given that it can lower customer's rates...Intellectually, I kind of go 'Why wouldn't 100 percent of people take this option?'" Although the percentage of customers using Snapshot has increased in the past two years due to the commercial, the innovation may just be a little too early for its time. Although Progressive has patented the device, and other insurers like GEICO are not picking up on it, Snapshot is being slow to give Progressive the buzz and revenues it needs.

Emotion: 1
"Rate Suckers" is meant to be a humorous take on a new innovation. I do not believe this ad is meant to instill emotion, purpose, or promote a social cause. Overall, this commercial is meant to draw attention to Progressive's new device.

Customer Reviews: 3

Although Progressive's CEO offered reviews of the Snapshot device above, I also did some more outside research. When looking on other websites, about 50 percent of the comments I read were positive and willing to recommend to a friend, however the other 50 percent complained of the device being faulty and being worried of privacy issues. In my opinion, the usefulness of this product may be luck of the draw. However, I do not believe the commercial is meant to deceive customers.

For now, Snapshot may just be a little before its time. Hopefully, there is no Rate Sucker apocalypse in the meantime.