ORLANDO\u2014Trying to guess what Progressive\u2019s chameleon-like character Flo might morph into next is harder than winning the Power Ball lottery. It\u2019s all about taking marketing risks because Progressive is \u201cnot like your father\u2019s insurance company,\u201d says CMO Jeff Charney.<\/p>\n

Suitably, Charney\u2019s presentation at the recent Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing<\/a> conference was titled The Most Feared Four-Letter Word In Marketing. That word is risk, and it\u2019s something that the marketing department of the insurance giant has long championed, he explains in this interview with Beet.TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cRisk? First of all, it\u2019s my favorite four-letter word of any four-letter word in marketing and in general. You\u2019ve got to take risks. It\u2019s got to be a company, a culture of risks,\u201d Charney says.<\/p>\n

With Flo, portrayed by actress and comedian Stephanie Courtney<\/a>, one might not think there\u2019s too much risk involved, even though some of her characters can be hard to relate to. Fact is, she\u2019s attracted a great deal of detractors (to put it mildly) among American consumers. But it\u2019s helped Progressive stay top-of-mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about being part of the consideration set, Charney<\/a> says. \u201cIf I\u2019m thinking about insurance, I got to think about Progressive. I see that woman Flo, I\u2019m thinking about Progressive. Then I go and I quote with Progressive and I convert with Progressive. Next thing I know, I\u2019m a customer for ten, fifteen years. It\u2019s a very competitive environment right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are 36,000 \u201cmarketers\u201d within Progressive<\/a>, according to Charney. \u201cAnd in some ways, they really represent our brand, and they also have to be themselves. We don\u2019t want to change who they are, we want them to be who they are. And if they get a chance to take a risk and we support that risk, it extends throughout the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Flo emerged 10 years ago, there was an obvious risk, Charney says, because she was a woman with black hair and a beret, red lipstick and crazy eyelashes. “That was a risk ten years ago. Now it\u2019s nothing. But we have eight other campaigns besides just the Flo campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it seems like some Progressive commercials are impromptu, that\u2019s on purpose. They are shot using script outlines and improvisational actors exclusively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t try to get normal actors. So the energy on set is incredible,\u201d says Charney. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like Curb Your Enthusiasm, if you follow that. We get script outlines and then we\u2019ve got to get certain messages across, but we let the improv actors have fun with it. And we are surprised sometimes with some of the content we get.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he professes an inherent love for marketing, Charney believes that his compatriots need to get braver. \u201cTake risks. It\u2019s a good thing. And when it pays off, it pays off big.\u201d<\/p>\n

This series \u201cGrowing Brands and Driving Results,\u201d was produced at the ANA Masters in Marketing \u201918 conference in Orlando. The series is sponsored by the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. Please find additional coverage here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO\u2014Trying to guess what Progressive\u2019s chameleon-like character Flo might morph into next is harder than winning the Power Ball lottery. It\u2019s all about taking marketing risks because Progressive is \u201cnot like your father\u2019s insurance company,\u201d says CMO Jeff Charney. Suitably, Charney\u2019s presentation at the recent Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference was titled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":57055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[7591],"tags":[5905,5960,5961,7605,7606,7607],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}