Stop and Watch The Advertising

Because we in the industry (especially those of us outside of the creative department), don't take the time to stop and look at "the work" out in the world often enough. Especially advertising that's not from our clients' competitors. Especially advertising that doesn't come from Apple or Nike. Especially advertising from "boring" or "un-sexy" industries. And especially advertising that's not on during the Super Bowl (or now March Madness)...

I have decided to embed the most recent spot from my ex-agency, Fallon, and my ex-client, Travelers Insurance. Even though I had absolutely nothing to do with it, I do know what the conversations that led to this spot were and many of the challenges that came with it. I have been expecting to see "a commercial that celebrates the return of the umbrella logo from Citibank" for a while now and was pleasantly surprised when I caught it on TV last week for the first time. Because I'm closer to this brand certainly than the average person, it's hard for me to be objective but will say that one thing Travelers seems to understand is the importance of execution. Sure its spots have been idea-driven, but the way they bring these ideas to life has now been consistently high-quality from a production standpoint. And for me, they are more and more standing out as the premium insurance company vs. State Farm, All-State, Liberty Mutual, Geico (yes, different biz model I know), Nationwide, etc. Hopefully that doesn't just lead to "I'm going to pay higher premiums" perceptions, rather it will make people think Travelers policies and customer service are modern/superior/etc.



Would love to hear outsiders' opinions. But the creatives were lucky I wasn't there or that production budget may have been spent getting the rights to make it shine and shine together...