Just a few months ago, Progressive Insurance launched a new ad campaign featuring an actress named Stephanie Courtney. According to Parade Magazine, Ms. Courtney ad libbed a few lines at her audition for the part and impressed the casting director. “I improvised at my first audition,” she said. ” and they brought me back for 16 ads.”

Click here to watch the new Progressive Campaign

The commercials work brilliantly. Why? Because Ms. Courtney tosses in a few odd one-liners here and there that make the ads stand out. The character she brought to life — named Flo — brings some sizzle and pizazz to what might have otherwise been a series of run-of-the-mill commercials.

Hats off to Stephanie Courtney for having the wherewithal to add some spark to the commercials. And hats off to Progressive for having the wherewithal to run the heck out of them.

Next time you’re helping develop a marketing campaign, there are three things you should remember. All great marketing campaign have the following elements:

1. Clarity — Most importantly, is the campaign on-strategy and an effective piece of communication?
2. Impact — Does the campaign stand out from the clutter? Does it make itself known? Does it draw positive attention to itself?
3. Memorability — Is the campaign memorable? Will people remember both the message and the ad? (If they just remember the ad, but don’t remember the message, you haven’t done your job.)

Marketing isn’t easy. It’s the rare commercial that stands out as much as the new Progressive campaign. But if you can remember to strive for Clarity, Impact and Memorability on your next campaign, you’ll be doing very well for yourself.

Sunday, March 1st, 2009, 6:07 pm   |   Advertising  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback