AgencySpy posted The Marketing Arm—an Omnicom appendage—named Veronica Appleton as its first Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. In other words, the place that “won” the State Farm account from White advertising agency DDB is another White advertising agency—now seeking to look progressive like Flo.
Adweek reported State Farm did not act like a good neighbor, abandoning DDB for The Marketing Arm, which is still in the Omnicom neighborhood. So it appears to be another example of Corporate Cultural Collusion by the White holding company, as the “extensive review” likely featured sister White agencies including Fathom Communications. In short, The Marketing Arm is simply one of the many appendages Omnicom extends and/or erects for clients. Between John Wren, Wendy Clark and God-Only-Knows-Who-Else, there are lots of White folks conspiring in that hot tub.
The Marketing Arm Takes the Lead on State Farm’s $615 Million Creative Account
DDB Chicago will remain with the insurance company
By Erik Oster
State Farm has chosen The Marketing Arm to lead its creative account, while also retaining DDB Chicago, the agency that created its “Like a Good Neighbor” tagline.
The insurance giant is sending lead creative duties to Omnicom’s The Marketing Arm as it heads into 2020, following an extensive review focused on finding a refreshed campaign strategy, a State Farm spokesperson confirmed to Adweek.
The move marks an expansion of State Farm’s relationship with the agency.
“State Farm has a longstanding history working with TMA on the experiential front,” including music, sports, auto and financial services sponsorships, the State Farm representative said in a statement. “They’re deeply involved in our artist relationships and music content, and also help us with our television and film integrations. Executing our brand work will be a new dimension to our relationship, and we’re confident their talented team is up to this new challenge.”
The Marketing Arm’s first creative campaign for State Farm is expected to launch early next year.
The State Farm representative said the company will continue to work with fellow Omnicom agency DDB Chicago as “an important partner in our agency roster,” with DDB Chicago now focusing on “lower funnel and cross-sell marketing programs.”
“At the end of the day, this was a very data-driven decision for us, and it was consumer feedback and testing that validated the relevance and strength of TMA’s campaign with our target audience,” the representative said. “We also believe in the depth of their idea and its elasticity to carry the breadth of messages we want to communicate.”
DDB has long served as State Farm creative agency partner and defended the account in a review nearly four years ago.
DDB chairman emeritus Keith Reinhard wrote the company’s “Like a Good Neighbor” tagline and DDB scored a viral hit with 2011’s “State of Unrest” spot, better known as “Jake From State Farm.” The agency, then known as Tribal DDB, did briefly lose the account to FCB Chicago (then DraftFCB) in 2010, but won it back after State Farm asked both agencies to present fresh ideas. DDB’s relationship with State Farm dates back to 1939.
State Farm spent nearly $615 million on marketing in the U.S. last year, and just around $343 million in the first six months of 2019, down slightly from over $346 million over that period in 2018, according to Kantar Media.
Adweek reported State Farm is consolidating its business with Omnicom. Like a not-so-good neighbor, State Farm is there—in an exclusive neighborhood.
State Farm Follows McDonald’s in Consolidating Its Ad Business With Omnicom
Company spent $726 million in 2016
By Patrick Coffee
State Farm is in the process of consolidating the majority of its marketing business with Omnicom, according to several parties with direct knowledge of the matter.
“State Farm works with many vendors to provide solutions to meet our customers’ needs,” said a company spokesperson regarding its agency roster. “Those relationships continue to evolve and are proprietary.”
Multiple individuals who spoke to Adweek regarding the business, however, agreed that State Farm would be transitioning to a new, Omnicom-focused approach with some notable exceptions involving agencies outside that organization.
The company, which is the United States’ largest insurance provider and one of its biggest advertisers, will at least partially follow the model set by McDonald’s, which awarded the lion’s share of its account to Omnicom in 2016 after a review that sparked debate over performance-based compensation requirements. The holding company then launched a dedicated agency called We Are Unlimited, and the client later shifted most of its regional marketing work to Zimmerman, another Omnicom agency.
At the time, holding company leaders positioned this development as the “agency of the future,” noting that We Are Unlimited included employees from Facebook, Google and the New York Times’ in-house content studio. DDB North America CEO Wendy Clark, who helped lead the McDonald’s pitch, also compared it to the “Flex” approach that allowed teams to collaborate across offices in that network.
Moving forward, DDB and OMD will retain their positions as lead creative and media agencies for the client. The former shop, which beat out FCB in a late 2015 brand refresh pitch, has a longstanding relationship with State Farm; chairman emeritus Keith Reinhard wrote the “Like a Good Neighbor” tagline in 1971 with Barry Manilow penning the jingle.
“We look forward to continuing to work with State Farm in 2018,” said a DDB spokesperson. “We are committed to advancing how we work collaboratively and creatively.” The representative declined to elaborate, and Wendy Clark herself did not respond to a related query. OMD deferred to the client for comment.
It is unclear at this time exactly which agencies will lose business as a result of this move. In addition to its smaller regional partners, State Farm currently works with several non-Omnicom shops including Translation, which has produced campaigns targeted at multicultural audiences; FCB, which retained the below-the-line portion of the business following the earlier review; and Weber Shandwick, which continues to serve as its PR agency of record.
An FCB spokesperson confirmed that the IPG shop remains on State Farm’s roster but declined to elaborate. A Translation representative deferred to the client for comment, but an agency insider told Adweek that Steve Stoute’s operation “will continue to be working with State Farm in 2018, and we are currently working through the details.” Weber Shandwick has not responded to a request for comment.
Sources at multiple agencies expressed uncertainty regarding the status of their long-term relationships with the client.
State Farm spent approximately $726 million on domestic paid media in 2016 and just over $300 million during the first half of 2017, according to Kantar Media. Its most recent campaign was a multiplatform collaboration with NBC involving that network’s hit prime time drama “This Is Us.”
Advertising Age published a story on the freshest Mayhem bullshit from Allstate and Leo Burnett. For the advertiser and its White advertising agency to keep hyping and extending this campaign only underscores the fact that insurance salespeople and ad executives are among the least-trusted professionals ever. After all, positioning the work as cool—especially in a category where competitors run breakthrough and iconic concepts—demands peddling serious lies to oneself and others.
The new Mayhem and Dennis Haysbert commercials warn viewers about burglars tapping social media to target victims. It’s mind-boggling how Allstate and Burnett continue to use both characters—Mayhem and Haysbert—to deliver the same messages. Is it an admission that Mayhem does not communicate clearly, requiring Haysbert to explain matters in a more straightforward style?
Equally mind-boggling is the rationale behind the latest campaign. “We’re not saying don’t use social media,” said Allstate VP-Integrated Marketing Communications Pam Hollander. “We’re saying use it smartly. There are people out there posting everything about their lives and they leave themselves vulnerable. … This is just the beginning. The whole intent of the campaign is to launch into what we’re calling ‘Project Aware Share’… educating people about what they can do to be smarter about having the right home protection.” People can be smarter by opting for GEICO or State Farm over Allstate. Plus, Allstate should use social media smartly versus polluting the Internet with lame banner ads and native advertising starring Mayhem.
Advertising Age reported GEICO is about to jump over Allstate for the second-place position among insurers. The impotence of Mayhem had previously been noted by the trade publication—and by this blog too. In fact, MultiCultClassics has hated the lame campaign from the start. Is it a coincidence that world-class liar Mark LaNeve boasts having overseen the creation of the mess? Time for Dennis Haysbert to take over.
Geico Poised to Drive Past Allstate
Biggest-Spending Insurer Closes in on No. 2 Slot Behind State Farm
By E.J. Schultz
Geico might soon cause a little of its own mayhem in the auto-insurance market.
The marketer—which spends some $1 billion a year on gecko and pig-filled advertising—is poised to surpass Allstate as the nation’s second-largest auto insurance company, according to business data company SNL Financial.
Geico has already passed Allstate for the first-quarter period, writing $4.72 billion in auto direct premiums compared with $4.53 billion for Allstate, according to SNL, which noted in a report this month that it is the first time Geico has surged ahead of its rival in a single reporting period.
For the year, Allstate still leads—but barely. The insurer, whose advertising includes the “Mayhem” campaign, kept the No. 2 spot in auto insurance for the 12-month period ended March 31 by a narrow margin, with $17.65 billion in premiums to Geico’s $17.16 billion. The Chicago Tribune first reported the numbers.
State Farm remains the leader, with $8.43 billion in direct premiums in the first quarter.
SNL noted that Geico’s business has more seasonality than Allstate’s, meaning that the “Good Hands” company could regain its familiar second-place position in the second quarter. But in a separate report, SNL projected that “after years of consistent premium growth, Geico is in position to become the second-largest U.S. personal auto writer in 2013.”
In an interview with Ad Age, Geico Chief Marketing Officer Ted Ward said the company is “a little shy” about talking about No. 2 until the annual tally is published. (And for that, the company looks to data from A.M. Best.) But “we’ve been the fastest-growing for the last 10 [years],” he added, noting that if trends continue “we will remain the second-largest.”
Allstate declined to comment.
Geico has fueled its growth by spending big on multiple ad campaigns that relentlessly push a savings message. Geico’s ad-spending rise has been astronomical, jumping from the 87th-biggest spending brand across all industries in 2003 to No. 7 in 2011, according to the Ad Age Data Center. Ad Age will publish 2012 brand data on July 8, but Geico seems poised to keep climbing. According to SNL, the marketer spent $1.1 billion on property and casualty insurance advertising last year, up 12.45% from the year before, ranking ahead of Allstate ($828.8 million) and State Farm ($777.9 million).
Geico’s newest campaign, called “Did You Know?” will debut Monday. The ads, by Martin Agency, have some fun with the notion that “everybody knows” Geico’s long-running tagline: “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.” In classic Geico-style, each spot ends with a one-liner. In one ad, a man replies to his wife that, “Yep, everybody knows that” after she repeats the tagline. Then she says: “But did you know that some owls aren’t that wise?” In the next scene a female owl tells her “husband” about her plans for having lunch with a friend tomorrow. But all the male keeps saying is “Who?”
The savings tagline is “arguably the longest-running call-to-action tagline in advertising, going over 19 years,” said Wade Alger, Martin’s creative director for the Geico account. “We are the only ones who could question [our] own tagline.”
Pam El Departs State Farm
Marketing VP Oversaw Big Advertising Changes at Nation’s Largest Auto Insurer
By E.J. Schultz
Pam El has left State Farm after an 11-year run, including most recently serving as marketing VP. She has been replaced by Leif Roll, a 14-year veteran of the company’s marketing department, a spokeswoman confirmed.
Ms. El led the Bloomington, Ill.-based company through a branding makeover as the nation’s largest auto insurer fought off big-spending competitors such as Geico, Progressive and Allstate. She led the marketer’s first logo redesign in 60 years, while overseeing humor-filled ad campaigns in a move to keep the company relevant with younger consumers.
Last year Ad Age named Ms. El as one of the 100 most influential women in advertising, joining a list of other female power players, pioneers and innovators. State Farm ranks as the nation’s 55th-largest advertiser at $775.8 million in U.S. spending, according to the latest ranking from the Ad Age Data Center.
Ms. El joined State Farm in 2002 after stints at Martin Agency, US West and Terabeam.
Mr. Roll joined State Farm in 1999 as assistant VP-marketing and was promoted to VP-marketing in 2004. (Although that title sounds similar to his new position, he was outranked by Ms. El until he succeeded her.) Prior to joining State Farm, Mr. Roll spent 18 years in the banking industry, with stints at Mellon Financial Services, First Union Bank and Key Bank.
As Ms. El did, Mr. Roll will report to Christy Moberly, senior VP for agency and marketing and Rand Harbert, exec VP-chief agency sales and marketing officer.
Business Insider reported State Farm VP of Marketing Pam El gets irritated when her ad agencies show up for meetings with token Black employees. El said, “It’s so irritating when agencies walk in the door and they feel that they have to bring a black person—and we all know that they don’t have any—so they bring in the intern to present to me.” Someone should ask El why she employs advertising agencies that are clearly not diverse. Clients who turn a colorblind eye to blatant exclusivity from their shops are most irritating.
State Farm VP Reveals The INFURIATING Way Ad Agencies Pitch To Her As A Black Woman
By Laura Stampler
Pamela El is a major player in the advertising industry.
After working 25 years on the agency side at The Martin Agency, US WEST, and Terabeam, she is now the vp/marketing at State Farm.
El is also a black woman, which is still a relatively rare sight on Madison Avenue.
As an Advertising Week panel on sexism in the agency world — triggered by veteran ad exec Colleen DeCourcy’s confessional in Digiday — was wrapping up at the NASDAQ building, El stood up to make a confessional of her own: The infuriating way that she is pitched to, now that she’s in charge on the client side.
“It’s so irritating when agencies walk in the door and they feel that they have to bring a black person — and we all know that they don’t have any — so they bring in the intern to present to me,” El said to a crowded room.
“And it’s really hard for them to bring the black female intern,” she continued, laughing, “because they really don’t have any of those!”
Women make up only three percent of creative directors. The percentage shrinks even more for black female creative directors.
This State Farm commercial has been labeled as racist via comments left at YouTube. Apparently, the Black guy is too smart, the Blond chick is too dumb, and the White guy is too ignorant. Actually, the White guy appears to be an Internet sexual predator.
