How Flo Accidentally Saved Progressive - Cheddar Explains - YouTube

This is Flo.

If you’ve turned on the TV in the last decade,  

you might be familiar with her. She’s been  the face of Progressive ads since 2008.

And she's partially responsible for  turning the brand into a household name.

In fact, before Flo, Progressive  held just a 4% market share.  

Today it’s over 13%, making progressive  the third largest auto insurer in the U.S.

But Flo almost didn't exist. In  fact, Flo was never part of the plan.

This is the unlikely story of how  Flo upended the car insurance world.

In the late 90s and early 2000s,  insurance advertising was bland  

and that makes sense. Here’s  Adweek’s senior editor, Robert Klara.

“The ads had to be straightforward  because they were selling a very  

straightforward product. A very sober product.”

“Insurance ads were very much customer  acquisition ads, meaning they were  

about saying things would be cheaper.  You can get a better deal. They were  

very functional in terms of trying to  persuade people to change insurers.”

To this point insurance, like many  financial services, marketed themselves  

on the same basis of price, and convenience. “ People tend to have bad experiences with their  

insurance companies. if you are going to market  insurance you are starting with that handicap.  

You are starting with the preconceived  notion that this is going to be expensive,  

this is going to be confusing and I'm only going  to need it if something bad happens to me.”  

Typically insurance ads followed one of  two models. The first featured comparisons,  

with a voice over and some type  of reassurance at the end.  

The other model highlighted life's worst  moments, fires, floods, and burglaries.  

“And the marketing of insurance historically,  

taken through the traditional routes, has  to talk about something bad happening to  

you. That’s generally not a great way to approach  marketing if you want people to like your brand.”  

But things changed in 1999 with  the evolution of the internet.  

“Geico’s real innovation was figuring out that  they could actually market directly to consumers  

to get people to get online and  buy their advertising that way.”  

Geico’s gecko added an element that  hadn’t been seen in this space before -  

humor. And it was successful. SO  successful that Geico doubled down.  

“Berkshire Hathaway which is the Geico brand  

was growing quickly because they were  the first to break out of the mold.”  

Progressive also tried this approach… But humor alone wasn’t enough to move the needle.  

They needed something more.  They needed a brand identifier.

In 2007 Progressive hired Boston based ad agency  

Arnold Worldwide to head  it’s new marketing effort.

And they had a plan: symbolically simplify the  complex and laborious insurance buying process.

This is the Progressive insurance  superstore. An almost ethereal  

all-white shopping warehouse in which all  your insurance needs were visualized in boxes.

Originally, the superstore was supposed to  be the star of the ad, with this unknown  

actress playing a run-of-the-mill employee.  That is, until she ad-libbed the words.

That bit of improv pivoted the ad's attention  

to the actress and changed the  trajectory of Progressive forever.

Robert Klara who’s interviewed Jeff Charney,  

Progressive’s CMO several times  explains why Flo worked so well.

“And It was this really weird,  quirky, uncomfortable moment that  

she created. And as soon as Progressive brass saw  that specifically Charney, he said ‘you know what,  

we're going to make Flo the  center of our marketing now.

According to Progressive when the  commercial aired 80% of viewers loved it.

Finally, Progressive had a  character that the audience  

could identify with. A character that  viewers felt like they’d met before.

And Courtney didn’t have to search too hard  for her inspiration for the Flo character.  

She found it at home with her mother.

“What they were looking for was basically  a friendly neighborhood waitress.  

She is super friendly and nice,  almost to the point of madness.  

I said I can do that. I went straight to my  mom and credited her for Flo's personality.”

Progressive featured Flo in the  superstore for the next two years  

before breaking her out into real life scenarios.

“Flo established that the  company could actually turn it's  

brand over to characters who are a  little kooky, but entirely sincere.  

And that, again, I think is a mark not only of  frankly, a brand's faith in its own creative.”

These ads rocketed Flo’s popularity and  increased Progressive’s likeability.

In 2011 Progressive’s Chief  Marketing Officer, Jeff Charney  

received Adweek’s Brand Genius award,  which honors the marketer of the year.

That following year, Flo was dubbed one  AdAge’s Top Ten Female Ad Icons of All Time.

And in an unexpected honor, Flo  broke into what was once the  

exclusive realm of superheroes and  Disney princesses: Halloween costumes!

“I want you to think about this, that  kids go out for Halloween dressed as  

an insurance spokesperson.  That is a very, very powerful  

indicator that Flo and Progressive have  connected with the consuming body of America.”

Since her introduction in 2008, Stephanie  Courtney has appeared in over 150 commercials as  

Flo. No other actor appeared in as  many commercials as the same character.

In the first 10 years of Flo’s run,  Progressive sales more than doubled.

Of course, we can’t definitely place all of  Progressive’s success on the shoulders of  

one character but it would be hard to argue  that she didn’t substantially contribute.

Today Progressive’s market share  stands at over 13% with over 40  

Billion dollars in premiums written. Making it  the third-largest insurer in the United States.  

Not a bad place to be when not so long ago the  brand was sitting at the bottom of the list  

with just a 4% market share.

What are your thoughts on Flo? Do you love or  hate her? Let us know in the comments below.  

And don’t forget to like and subscribe if you  enjoyed this video. We’ll see you next time!