Overused Campaign: Progressive

Not too long ago, I made a blog about car insurance commercials and their amount of time on the air with their campaigns. I'm going specifically on companies. I will go after Geico, but for today, it's Progressive. I've said before that they get their point across, but they only have one type of ad. Always, it has to do with bringing in their spokeswoman, Flo, played by actress Stephanie Courtney.

Courtney has been with Progressive ads since the mid 2000s. The early commercials, they got the point despite her over excited personality. For what they did, and they still do, they show rates compared to other insurance companies. I don't know what is in her contract, but I'm assuming they have to have either Flo in every ad or have stuff that makes you think of her when they don't have her on it.

Geico tried to expand their Cavemen commercials by giving them a TV show that ultimately blew up in their faces. I get this feeling Progressive is trying to do that, but with their commercials. They've brought in a sidekick for Flo that learns stuff from her. They have her with her own dimwitted family or living like a normal person. I think this is overkill, but the TMZ parodies, I don't know. For as much as I hate those paparazzi morons, as I said, I have this feeling that they want to imitate Geico. That being said, they are being smarter with this... for now.

I'm not saying Progressive has to learn a thing or two from other insurance companies, but they have to use do more than just Flo commercials. I know it's a money maker for them, but Courtney could one day die unexpectedly. This is what I would do. I would start thinking up a new campaign that still gets the point across, but doesn't need to be a big production like Geico commercials. They should get a fresh face that is new to wanting to do commercials, and start thinking of ways of doing them without them screaming rehash.

So basically, I think it's time for Progressive to retire Flo. They need to. It's become so overused the last five or six years, there comes a point when enough is enough.