As Progressive examined opportunities to build its business we looked at many different target segments. What we realized in looking at the GLBT segment (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgender) was that no insurance company had made significant inroads into truly owning this segment. Most of the other brands who even opted to speak this community did so in ways that were either generic (i.e., rainbows) or played it very safe by having two people in close proximity whose sexual orientation was ambiguous.

This was the first time that Progressive was speaking with a campaign directed overtly at the GLBT community. We already had our successful Superstore campaign in market but we knew our job here was more than simply to sell insurance products. We knew from research that the community responded more favorably to brands that made the commitment to step out and speak to them more overtly. So we knew that our campaign had to resonate with a true understanding of this target and insight into their history and struggle.

Interestingly as we began to step back and look at what was best about this community’s pioneering spirit, we realized that there was tremendous synergy with the pioneering spirit at Progressive—a company with a long history of innovation aimed at bettering the car insurance industry.. This became the lynchpin of the creative idea – to celebrate the notion of progressive thinking as something the GLBT community and Progressive shared.

We also kept in mind the media and experiential habits of this community and focused our efforts on environments where we knew we could get the most bang for our buck. The media we used were highly targeted print publications or online websites and blogs. Given the higher penetration for Social Media within the GLBT community we developed a Facebook fan page to coordinate with a larger experiential effort that appeared at major Pride events across the country.

To begin with, this campaign is distinctive for Progressive’s courage to not develop a typical insurance ad focused on price, claims or coverages. Instead they bravely chose to focus exclusively on the progressive spirit that they and the community share. This was very necessary in order for Progressive not to come across as opportunistic and sales-y interested only in acquiring new customers. Instead, we needed to showcase the fact that Progressive understood them.

We did that by developing a campaign in print and online that had real stopping power and spoke to the community’s history. The campaign featured vintage photos from the 1800s of couples who were brave enough to have their pictures taken together. These were not staged actors who we shot but actual photographs collected from albums, exhibits, journals and people’s personal collections. We searched very hard to find photographs that captured exactly the spirit we were looking for – the courage to stand up for yourself with dignity and respect.

For the event program we developed digital technology whereby people who showed up at the booth could have their photos taken and have them automatically uploaded to the Faces of Pride Facebook community using Facebook connect. Each time someone joined the community a posting was placed in their Facebook Newsfeed so all of their friends (especially those who were not able to attend the event) were made aware of the Faces of Pride page. To date there are more than 13,000 fans which exceeds the number of total fans for several major insurance companies Facebook pages.

To begin with, this campaign is distinctive for Progressive’s courage to not develop a typical insurance ad focused on price, claims or coverages. Instead they bravely chose to focus exclusively on the progressive spirit that they and the community share. This was very necessary in order for Progressive not to come across as opportunistic and sales-y interested only in acquiring new customers. Instead, we needed to showcase the fact that Progressive understood them.

We did that by developing a campaign in print and online that had real stopping power and spoke to the community’s history. The campaign featured vintage photos from the 1800s of couples who were brave enough to have their pictures taken together. These were not staged actors who we shot but actual photographs collected from albums, exhibits, journals and people’s personal collections. We searched very hard to find photographs that captured exactly the spirit we were looking for – the courage to stand up for yourself with dignity and respect.

For the event program we developed digital technology whereby people who showed up at the booth could have their photos taken and have them automatically uploaded to the Faces of Pride Facebook community using Facebook connect. Each time someone joined the community a posting was placed in their Facebook Newsfeed so all of their friends (especially those who were not able to attend the event) were made aware of the Faces of Pride page. To date there are more than 13,000 fans which exceeds the number of total fans for several major insurance companies Facebook pages.

We knew we needed to transcend typical GLBT advertising. Often brands have used stereotypical and banal images like rainbow flags or shown two people holding hands. Or they play it safe by showing two people of ambiguous sexuality sitting near each other. Or they try to make a connection via sexual identity and go so far with their lasciviousness that they are inappropriate. We wanted to transcend those approaches in order to show the community that we truly understood them.

Secondly we needed to be careful not to take a stand on social agenda issues. Progressive’s goal with this campaign was not to support or refute a particular policy. As an insurance company who prioritizes understanding and respect, Progressive’s main objective was to communicate that there was a shared spirit of progressive thinking with the community. The reality of our world today is that for many people GLBT issues are politically and emotionally charged and Progressive did not want to enter into that debate. So we needed to strike the right balance in the creative and stay hyper focused on celebrating the respect of members of the community for their courage.

The Ad Club Congratulates Arnold and Progressive
for being the 2010 Rosoff Awards Marketing to a Diverse Audience winners.