In an Ace Metrix first, an insurance brand fills out all the correct paperwork to make it on our Ads of the Week list. Kidding aside, Progressive’s much-loved brand character, Flo, took a toned-down approach to selling car insurance to earn the title of Category Overachiever. Likewise, Olive Garden whipped up a promotional spot featuring its guests’ most loved meals for a truly mouthwatering Ace Score.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, brand characters tend to be very memorable. This last week, Progressive aired a sneaky spot in which Flo surprised customers at the Progressive Claims Center. The ad, “Service With Flo,” received an Ace Score of 642, which is 24% above the 12-month Auto Insurance norm.
Males and females rated Flo’s performance nearly equally. Among women the ad skewed older with women 50+ giving it the highest scores followed closely by men 21-35. Even grumpier older men (50+) scored the ad well above norm. A win across demographics suggests the ad would serve Progressive well on a wide range of programming.
Much like celebrities, brand characters can be polarizing for some consumers. From the looks of it in this ad though, consumers generally like Flo. Even more so, many consumers mentioned that they liked seeing Flo break from her usual shtick and surprise Progressive customers with a real, friendly greeting. In fact, Flo received even more mentions than Progressive in our word cloud, with 25% of consumers mentioning “Flo” and 17% mentioning “Progressive.”
Such an overwhelming positive response lead to a higher than average Emotional Sentiment score of 69, which is 60% above the norm for the category.
This win for Progressive comes at the heels of our recently released finding that Millennials tend to rate ads with brand characters slightly higher than the general population. While Flo did not make it into the top 3 highest rated brand characters, her arch-nemesis at Allstate, Mayhem, did. How would you like to be greeted by Mayhem at the claims center?
Watch this year’s winning Ads of the Week by Category Overachievers.
Olive Garden serves up a little something for everyone this week. Whether consumers were looking for a tasty meal, delectable deal or something for lunch, Olive Garden’s “Latest Inspiration” had it. With an Ace Score of 734, the 0:30 spot features guests’ favorite dishes for a promotional price of $25 two entrees served with soup, salad and dessert.
Regardless of gender or age, every demographic group rated the ad above a 700. Women ages 50+ awarded the ad the highest mark, an Ace Score of 770, 5% above the ad’s total Ace Score.
The food itself is what really got consumers hungry. When asked, “What is the best thing about this ad?” 21% of survey respondents pointed to the pasta dishes, endless breadsticks, crisp salad and mouthwatering desserts. Nineteen percent of consumers indicated that the 2 for $25 deal is what enticed them and another 19% were just salivating at the sight of Olive Garden’s dishes.
The high salivation-factor can also be found in the optional verbatim responses. Of the 351 consumers who left feedback on the ad, 11% of them remarked that the ad made them “hungry”; and, surprisingly, another 7% specifically used the word “yummy” when describing the ad.
Olive Garden’s ability to pack a variety of scrumptious offerings—from desserts to deals—while still preserving a consistent, understandable message is likely what led to its high score.
Watch this year’s winning Ads of the Week by Ace Score.
