Travelers Insurance is bringing us back to what insurance is really about.

Summary

We follow the adventure of a very worried dog as he tries to find a secure place to hide his bone. At first he tries to hide his bone around the house. No matter where he hides it, the bone is either obvious or he doesn’t feel secure about the hiding place.

He tries to bury the bone outside and a cat goes running by. Now that the cat has seen the hole, the dog keeps watch overnight thinking that the cat is going to come back for the bone.

Taking a bus into town, another dog that is on a walk spies the bone in the dog’s mouth. The dog on the bus quickly ducks down below the window level to hide the bone.

The bus takes the dog to a bank where he deposits the bone in a security box that goes into a locked bank vault. During a following nap the dog dreams that the dog he saw on the walk and the cat both have gotten into the security box and took his bone.

Running back to the bank he gets his bone back and takes it home. We find that the dog is no longer worried about his bone as it is safely out in the open in his dish with a Traveler’s Umbrella protecting it.

Narrator: When it comes to things you care about leave nothing to chance. Travelers: insurance for auto, home and business.

Point of the Commercial

Travelers Insurance is presenting to the consumer the original concept of insurance; protection of your assets. They use the dog to portray us and how protective some of us are with our “stuff” and also how paranoid we can get over making sure it is okay.

If you watch the commercial closely, you will notice that they throw in the line “leave nothing to chance”.  This is a nice point being made by Travelers, especially if you are already distrusting of your current insurance company or if you have any items that are uninsured.

What They want you to Do

Travelers Insurance wants you to trust them with your stuff. This means placing your insurance coverage with them so it is all protected. As the end of the commercial points out also, they aren’t just after your car insurance. They are letting you know that they can protect it all for you.

My Opinion

A fun commercial to watch, but once you see it a handful of times the novelty definitely wears off and it just feels long. The point that the insurance company is making though is put to the consumer in a very entertaining way. It is also not a commercial that will be forgotten quickly.

Overall, I feel that it deserves a thumbs up.

USAA tries to make insurance out to be a family heirloom just like an antique that is passed from one generation to the other.

Summary

Commercial opens with three generations of what we assume are the Bell family men sitting at the kitchen table. Grandpa is putting his hat from his army uniform onto his grandson with a smiling dad looking on.

Narrator: Often passed down from generation to generation. USAA auto insurance is more than just insurance; it’s a family heirloom.

Narrator is speaking as we see more of the Bell family together along. Screen introduces us to Mike Bell (the smiling father from the first scene) and informs us that Mike is a “2^nd Generation USAA Member”.

Narrator: Begin your legacy, get a quote. USAA, we know what it means to serve.

Point of the Commercial

USAA is very much playing on the emotional aspect of family ties and tradition. They show a happy family that spends time together, served in the military and looks to be financially stable. USAA ties all of this together with the fact that this family has multiple generations insured with them.

As USAA is a specialized insurance company that the general public cannot access they are speaking directly to military and their families. For military personnel, their main source of support is their family which makes sense why USAA is playing up on the solidarity of the family (even when making insurance choices).

You may argue the point that family is the source of support for most people. You would be right, but for military personnel that need for the support is stronger. To understand think about this, who needs their families support more; the people that live in the same town as multiple generations of their family or the soldier that is deployed overseas?

What the Insurance Company Wants You to Do

They want you to switch to them or even stay with them, regardless of cost, because it is a family tradition for some families. They want your family to be just like the Bells with multiple generations insured with USAA.

My Opinion

Please don’t mistake my dislike for this commercial as a dislike for the military. USAA has put out many other commercials that I like, but this one is not one of them. I strongly disagree that you should be loyal to an insurance company just because your parents were.

Insurance is NOT a family heirloom; it is something that has to fit you and your situation individually.

Sorry, but I have to give this one a thumbs down.

Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. provide a demonstration on how Nationwide’s vanishing deductible program works.

Summary

Danica: We’re here to demonstrate how vanishing deductible from Nationwide Insurance works. (Looking at Dale) Now go long.

Dale takes off in a jog for a short distance.

Danica: With vanishing deductible you get 100 dollars off your deductible for signing up.

Dale (Stops running and turns around): Good?

Danica: Keep Going.

Dale runs a little farther.

Danica: Then for every year of safe driving it gets 100 dollars smaller.

Dale (stops running): How about now?

Danica: Little bit more. Until it could vanish completely.

Camera draws back and we see that Dale has now vanished.  Danica looks around calling for him.

Scene changes to Dale driving off in a car.

Dale: Looks like her ride home vanished too.

Point of the Commercial

Nationwide gets to plug two things in this commercial. One, they are using two well-known NASCAR drivers to give you a physical demonstration of how their vanishing deductible works. The vanishing deductible program is their latest gimmick to get new customers so they want to make sure you really understand how it works.

As silly as it sounds, most people are visual learners and this commercial really does help drive the point home on how it works.

Two, Nationwide is a huge sponsor of NASCAR. With the commercial using drivers that even people who know nothing about NASCAR can recognize and also shooting the commercial on a racing track; Nationwide is plugging NASCAR also.

What the Insurance Company Wants You to Do

At the end of the commercial the screen has the company’s phone number and also the phone number is in the jingle at the end. Obviously, they want you to call them for a quote about this vanishing deductible program that they have. The phone call is the key here, there is no emphasis on a website or contacting a local agent, they want you to call them directly.

My Opinion

Even if you aren’t a fan of NASCAR, you have to admit that it is fun to watch these two drivers in this commercial together. There is a fun onscreen chemistry with them and they each get the best of each other while making the point about the vanishing deductible.

Not only is it fun, it also balances out the sexism. Since they each get the better of the other one, there is no “one sex is better than the other”. This is especially nice to see since Danica is the only female NASCAR driver at this time.

I give it a thumbs up.

An interesting accident makes former State Farm client, Jerry, regret that he switched to a company that has no agents to help him – Video

Summary

Commercial opens with State Farm agent Jessica DeClercq answering the phone in her agency from a former client of hers, Jerry Newman. On the screen are the words “State of Regret”. We see Jerry through the windshield of a vehicle and he tells Jessica that he has a policy question. The screen shot is fast, but we see that the steering wheel of the vehicle is at an angle that just doesn’t look right.

Jessica greets Jerry and asks, “How are you doing?”

Screen changes back to Jerry and we see why that steering wheel looked a little funny in the last shot with Jerry. Jerry tells Jessica that he is “Fine” and that he has just had a little “Fender Bender”. We see that Jerry’s vehicle is nose down and the back of the car is in the air, leaning on a pole.

Jessica tells Jerry, “I’m so sorry, I would love to help, but you dropped us last month.”

Jerry responds with regret in his voice that it only took 15 minutes to switch to that “other” insurance company, but that it is now taking longer for them to respond to him.

Jessica asks Jerry, “Is your car up a pole again.”

Jerry breaks down in tears that he misses his agent Jessica, but won’t admit to crying.

Commercial ends with the words “Jerry. Jerry. Jerry. Should’ve Stayed With State Farm” on the screen and then “get to a better State”.

Announcer: “Get to a better state. State Farm”

Point of the Commercial

The whole 15 minutes comment gives away that the other insurance company is GEICO. State Farm is trying to make the point that you may save money in 15 minutes by switching to GEICO, but you aren’t going to have a local agent to help you. When it comes to when you really need help, you are going to regret leaving your agent.

What They Want you to Do

If you are still with State Farm, they don’t want you to leave for the possibly cheaper rates at GEICO. If you have already left State Farm, they are trying to get you to come back by showing you how much you are going to miss your agent when you really need them.

My Opinion

Okay, in all the years that I worked in insurance claims, I have never heard of a person doing this. Whoever came up with the idea for this claim has a great imagination.

I also like the creativity and playing the “no agent to help you when you buy insurance directly from the company” card angle that State Farm took. Thumbs Up.

GEICO video provides their own wood chucking proof that you really can save on your car insurance with them in 15 minutes.

Summary

The commercial starts with a GEICO spokesperson asking, “Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance?” After a pause, he then asks the question, “Do woodchucks chuck wood?” 

The scene switches to two woodchucks throwing (chucking) wood into a pond in front of a cabin. The owner of the cabin drives across a nearby bridge and yells at the woodchucks to, “…quit chucking my wood.”

After one last toss by one of the woodchucks they run off into the woods and the commercial closes with the GEICO logo over the cabin scene and the announcer stating, “GEICO, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.”

Point of the Commercial

GEICO is making the point to the viewers that you really can save 15% or more on car insurance because they just showed you that woodchucks really do chuck wood. We all know that in real life woodchucks don’t do this, at least where I live they don’t.

Actually, I had no idea what a woodchuck was and I had to look it up.  Turns out we do have woodchucks where I live, but we call them marmots or groundhogs in the Pacific Northwest. Regardless, they still don’t chuck wood, unless they are in a GEICO commercial.

What the Insurance Company Wants You to Do

Obviously, GEICO wants you to give them 15 minutes of your time to see if you can save 15% or more on your insurance premium by switching to them from your current carrier. They tell you right out what they want from you.

But, there is also a less obvious underlying reason that GEICO is aiming for with this ad.

When you watch this ad, it makes you laugh. It has nothing to do with car insurance, but it is ridiculously funny and you tell other people about it. They then see it and tell other people about it. GEICO has just succeeded in getting people to talk about the commercial and get their name passed around by word of mouth.

This seems to be the real motivation of what they want you to do.  In fact, if you watch the commercial again, they make no mention of you calling or clicking on their website to get your quote. The only contact information that they provide is a quick shot of their company logo with geico.com underneath it.

My Opinion

I love this commercial. It is hilarious and for me it still hasn’t gotten old even though I have now watched it close to 10 times in a row in the last 20 minutes. Thumbs Up.