Entry #5: Advertisement Mayhem

Happy Sunday! 

No matter what business you are in, THIS ADVERTISEMENT should be influence you or your company's business model in advertising. Before watching this ad, think about the audience that Allstate is directing this towards, what the purpose is behind it, the tone/voice they succeeded in portraying, and overall, the structure that was utilized.

A little background info on Allstate for those interested, Allstate is an American insurance company that is based in the U.S. The company has personal lines insurance operations in Canada was well. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears and spun off in the early 90's.

Last year, their total revenue was $39.8 BILLION. Ranked 79th in the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue, so basically this means PAY ATTENTION.

Also, check out their advertising/sponsor pages on their website.

https://www.allstate.com/advertising.aspx

https://www.allstate.com/national-sponsorships/main.aspx

Audience

So first of all, let's determine who this advertisement is directed to. 

"I'm a filthy rich executive, I hear the market's down a million points. I freak out. (yelling) I spill my large espresso, the searing pain makes me slam on the brakes. Uh-oh, your fault. Your cut-rate insurance may not cover my $90,000 car so I sue you, cause' that's what I do. So get Allstate, you can save money and be better protected by Mayhem, like me."

Simple, yet so DARN EFFECTIVE. So.. who was this ad made for? The filthy rich exec. like myself and those reading will hopefully be some day? or the young teen in his lowered 97' Honda Civic like this one who just ran in to this man? (I know the teen in the video is driving a Nissan Xterra, but still)

The answer is the proud Honda Civic owner, obviously. Who wants to get sued? Not me. This ad does a great job of portraying the cocky, mean business exec. that most teenagers/young adults would absolutely HATE to crash their car into. 

Purpose

I mean, come on. The purpose of this ad is to obviously make people who need insurance to do business with Allstate rather than their rival companies, right? This should be very obvious everyone. No need to complicate everything, money is the purpose!

Tone/Voice

Okay, this one is actually very important regarding this ad. The tone used here was done perfectly. Whoever constructed the Mayhem campaign for Allstate deserves a raise. Sarcasm and humor was used by the book. 

"Your cut-rate insurance may not cover my $90,000 car so I sue you, cause' that's what I do"

Cause' that's what I do! Stereotyping rich business people is the RIGHT thing to do when targeting your ad towards the American youth who needs car insurance! 

Dean Winters is the actor in the ad, and did a wonderful job at portraying this. Face already bandaged, hot large espresso ready to spill at a moments notice, in a SUIT, driving a typical rich-guy car, and his literal tone of voice perfect for the job.

Structure

Beginning, middle, end. Just kidding, but really. At only 30 seconds long (like most ads), there really is not much to say about the structure.

This ad starts out with Dean Winters in the said typical rich-guy car, listening to the radio (maybe) hearing that the market went down a million points. He freaks out, spills his coffee. Ultimately, the car accident is his fault, but he's rich! He can sue whoever exposed him to this personal traumatic event for his whole 97' Honda Civic neon light fund! The ad shows the young driver, looking very disappointed as most would be. 

Probably the most important thing to note about the structure of advertisements is in the last 5 seconds. The last 5 seconds of this ad has the famous Dennis Haysbert, saying by far one of most recognizable sayings in America, "Are you in good hands?" When hearing this, viewers are reminded that they most likely pay far too much for insurance and should probably go over their policy, and possibly take another look at their budget.


Are you in good hands?

Are you actually though?

Have a great week!