When all things are considered 21st Century shows that insurance companies are the same, except when it comes to insurance premium.

Summary

Commercial opens with a light blue car under the name of GEICO and a similar red car under the name of 21^st Century.  A man in a white jumper with the red 21^st Century logo on it and also wear a red hard hat with the same logo walks out on screen.

Announcer: How to choose the right car insurance made easy.  Start with two identical cars. One, covered by a leading insurance provider (man indicates to the car under the GEICO name), the other coverage by 21^st Century Insurance. Both cars have the same coverage, same low deductibles and……..

Man in the white jump suit takes a sledge hammer out of what looked like a musical instrument case.

Announcer: ….. oh, boy!

The man uses the sledgehammer to hit the front door of each car.

Announcer: The same door dings. Since both cars are covered (Screen shows the words “A Few Days Later”) both cars get the same repairs.  Here’s the difference, customers who switch over to 21^st Century save an average of 480 dollars every year.

Man pulls out a sign in the shape of a big red arrow pointing to the red car that says, “21^st SAVES $480”.

Announcer: If you’re switching from Progressive or Allstate, 21^st Century saves you even more.

Man switches sign to other hand and it changes from an arrow to a rectangle and says, “21^st SAVES $528”.

Announcer: why would anyone pay more for the same insurance? Why wouldn’t you pick up the phone today and compare for yourself? Call 21^st Century at 888-get-2121 (catchy number), 888-get-2121 or visit 21^st.com; 21^st Century auto insurance, the same great coverage for less.

Screen moves to an all red screen with the 21^st Century logo and motto.

Point of the Commercial

Although this is just another “were cheaper than the competition” commercial this one uses visual actions to bring the point home. 21^st Century shows us that all things can be the same from one insurance policy to the other as far as coverages and claims procedures. The only difference is, as they point out, that the price of their insurance is cheaper than the other guys.

What They Want you to Do

21^st Century would like you to give them a call for what your premium would be with them as compared to what you are paying now. They do a nice bit of advertising here to enforce you to call them also.

One, they show you their phone number. This enhances your visual memory of their phone number. Two, they point blank tell you to call them instead of leaving it up to you to figure out to call or not. Three, they tell you the phone number. Telling you the phone number enforces the visual memory of their number with an audio of the phone number. The fact that it is a “catchy number” also helps to enforce the audio memory.

My Opinion

I like this one. It could be because of that secret inner desire we all have to take a sledge hammer to a car (don’t tell me that if you were given a sledge hammer and told you could dent a car without consequence that you wouldn’t). It could also be because 21^st Century found a new, interesting way to tell us that they are cheaper than the competition. Honestly, it’s probably a mix of both.

Giving this one a thumbs up.

Progressive shows how you can easily package together multiple lines of insurance in their “bundler”, just make sure to keep your hands out of it.

Summary

Commercial opens at the click of a mouse on the Progressive Logo to a man asking a question.

Man: What it that?

Flo: Oh, we call it ‘the bundler”. Let’s say you need home and auto insurance, you give us your information once online (Flo pushes BUNDLER button and the Bundler merges the home and auto boxes in the bundler together) and we give you a discount on both.

Man: Great.

Flo and the man look over to the side and there is a Progressive employee that is fumbling with something because he has boxes for hands.

Flo: Did I mention no hands in the bundler?

Flo waves at the employee and he waves back with one of his box hands, dropping what he was finally able to pick up.

Change to Progressive logo and vehicle.

Announcer: Bundling and saving made easy, now that’s Progressive. Call or click today.

Point of the Commercial

Writing multiple lines of insurance for a client and offering discounts on each policy for doing so is not a new concept. Almost every insurance company that writes in multiple lines offers this and they collect the same information all at the same time that Progressive is claiming they do.

What Progressive is trying to do is to make it look easier to get a quote on multiple lines of insurance with them as compared to getting quotes from other insurance companies.

What They Want you to Do

The commercial is targeting potential clients that have multiple lines of insurance that they may need to buy. The commercial only covered the auto and home insurance, but there are many lines of insurance that they write that you can bundle together.

Also from how the commercial opens up with a mouse click and ends with “click today”, Progressive is encouraging you to get your quotes online.

My Opinion

While this one is funny, Flo doesn’t seem to be her usual, over-the-top, perky self; which really makes the Progressive commercials for me. This commercial is also one of two versions that Progressive made of the same bundler commercial.

 The other version shows a half-horse/half-man Progressive employee that was created as a result of the bundler.  I find that the “no hands in the bundler” one is the funnier of the two and also seems more realistically humorous as compare to getting a man and a horse in the bundler.

Giving this one a thumbs up/thumbs down.

Infinity Insurance tries to make themselves out to be the insurance company that understands the needs of unique drivers, but falls short explaining why.

Summary

Commercial opens with a little, masked wrestler bobbling around in the back window of a vehicle. The picture switches to a diva doll in a rotating gold shoe in the next rear vehicle window and packages in the backseat of the cat. The next scene is flashing lights disco lights in another car and a little disco dancer in the rear window of this one. Each scene has background music and noise that fits the scene in the rear of the vehicle.

Spokesman: At Infinity we know that each driver is unique.

Scene changes to show the spokesman that is talking to us.

Spokesman: So call us today and switch to the auto insurance that’s right for you. For 60 years we’ve been serving our clients’ diverse needs with thousands of agents and local claims offices. It’s easy, call now and get the special attention that you deserve.

Scene changes from spokesman to an Infinity Insurance company vehicle. On bottom of the screen are the phone number, website address and the Infinity logo.

Spokesman: Infinity, always with you.

Point of the Commercial

Infinity is making the point that they can tailor your insurance to fit your specific needs; that they are not a “one-size-fits-all” insurance company. As they do not go into specifics on how they are different in fitting the “diverse needs” of clients in their commercial, I am not sure how they are any different than any other insurance company.

What They Want you to Do

Infinity makes no mistake that they want you to call them at their toll free number as this pops up only 7 seconds into the commercial. In fact, in the span of the 32 second commercial, they show us their phone number 5 different times in different locations on the screen. Their website address shows up 3 different times during commercial.

So even though they are telling you about their local agents and claim service, they are encouraging you to contact them directly and apparently preferably by phone as this form of contact gets the most screen time.

My Opinion

I like the beginning of the commercial with the three different cars and how they are decorated. It’s fun and does help Infinity prove the point of drivers all being different. However, the majority of the commercial is a spokesman talking sales pitch and they never say why they are different from other insurance companies.

I would have to give this a thumbs up for the beginning of the commercial and a thumbs down for the 2^nd half of the commercial.

The student agents learn an important lesson about distracted driving and their role in helping safe drivers get better rates.

Summary

Commercial opens at the entrance of the University of Farmers campus with bells ringing.

Professor:  Distracted driving, it accounts for 25% of car crashes.

We see a boom box fall from the sky and the distractions for the student agent all start.

Professor: Music, cell phones, food; the list goes on.

Student outside of the car: This is why safe driving is so important.

Professor: Correct.

Student in car: That’s why the best agents help safe drivers get a lower rate.

Hot coffee is poured into the lap of the student driving the car

Professor: Exactly.

More distractions, including a “Saturday Night Live” type friend jumps into the front seat of the car rocking out to the music.

Student driving crashes the driving simulator into a stop sign after glancing over at the passenger in the front seat.

Announcer: We are Insurance

Chorus: We are Farmers

Commercial closes with Farmers logo and the types of insurance that they provide.  On the bottom the only contact information is farmers.com.

Point of the Commercial

Most of the series of Farmers’ University commercials are telling potential Farmers’ customers that Farmers’ agents are highly trained in insurance. This particular commercial highlights not only that agents help good drivers that don’t drive distracted get good rates, but also the dangers of distracted driving.

With how dangerous and more common distracted driving has become, you could say that this is a Farmers’ commercial and a public service message all rolled into one.

What They Want you to Do

With the only contact information at the end of the commercial being the Farmers’ website address, they want you to visit their website. They don’t encourage you to get a quote from them or to contact your local agent in this commercial. So they are really not asking you to do anything, just letting you know about distracted driving, what lines of insurance they write and also where to find them online.

My Opinion

This has to be my new favorite University of Famer’s commercial. While Farmer’s is reaching for funny in most of their other commercials like this, they have never quite made it (in my opinion). But, they hit it head on with this one and all while seriously talking about a very important topic.

The funny thing is that I am concentrating so much on watching all of the different things that are going on while the guy is doing the driving simulation that I am too distracted to listen to the commercial. I had to close my eyes just to pay attention to what they were saying. I guess it’s a good thing that I am not driving at the moment.

Of all the distractions that they show, the lipstick on a pole is the one that gets me laughing. Which distraction is your favorite?

Giving this one a definite thumbs up!

Liberty Mutual opts to make themselves look responsible rather than following everyone else into the cut-rate insurance premium advertising war.

Summary

Commercial opens at what looks like a train station with guitar music playing in the back ground. At the train station we see a gentleman remove an object out of the way of a blind woman. He does this silently and without being asked.

This one act of kindness is viewed by another person who in turn acts kindly to an opponent during a soccer game. As the commercial progresses, each act of kindness is view by another person who in turn acts kindly to someone else; creating a chain of events.

Narrator (at end of commercial): Everyday millions of people choose to do the right thing. There’s an insurance company that does that too. Liberty Mutual Insurance. Responsibility: What’s Your Policy?

Point of the Commercial

The whole base of this commercial is to “do the right thing”. In the field of insurance, this means to pay claims when they are legitimate and to not price gouge. But, they never tell you what they mean when they say this so you are left to assume their meaning.

The ending also puts an exclamation point on what they are trying to say when they add the tagline “Responsibility: What’s your policy?” Again, they are telling you that they are going to be a responsible insurance company for you, but they don’t tell you in what way.

Liberty Mutual is very much playing up on the current distrust that people have for big businesses right now with the current recession. They are making the point that they will be there for you to “do the right thing” and to act “responsibly” for you.

What the Insurance Company Wants You to Do

Naturally they want you to contact them for an insurance policy; but they don’t come out to encourage you to do so. This is a psychological move on their part to put the ball in your court and make you not feel like you are being pressured into contacting them for a quote.

They are telling you straight out that they will accept the responsibility of doing what is right by you if you had a policy with them. Then they let you think about what they just told you.

Right now this is a little bit of a gamble for them. With so many people looking for ways to cut corners and save money, they are instead trying to gain your trust in them as a corporation.

My Opinion

I am riding the fence with this one. I do like it, it is different and the company plays up on something other than how much money they can save you.  The commercial is also a nice reminder to those of us that live in this “me, me, me” world that one act of kindness can set off a whole chain of kindness.

But, I am still not liking that they are not specific in their claims of what they are going to be doing the right thing with.

I give it a thumbs up and a thumbs down.