Introduction
Notably, companies’ name, logo, and slogan form their corporate identity. Moreover, slogans may be used as a powerful marketing tool. The goal of companies is to realize that customers have particular demands and desires. As a result, marketing departments aim to create a strong brand, develop corporate culture, and stay on consumers’ minds (Adhikari, 2018). The critical assumption of the marketing idea is that a corporation must identify the requirements and desires of specific target audiences and deliver the needed products and services better than the competitors. Adhikari (2018) emphasizes that a corporate slogan is a phrase repeated after a firm’s name or logo and serves as a description of the company’s image. Moreover, slogans are used to communicate an organizational objective. The paper describes the company case Allstate and discusses the role of slogans and creative campaigns focusing on customers’ needs to create a higher value and achieve success.
Allstate’s ‘Good Hands’ Slogan
Allstate’s slogan ‘Good Hands’ has an interesting history of creation. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2021), Davis Ellis, Allstate’s general manager, was part of a team involved in designing the firm’s first international marketing campaign. As a result, he recalled that when his daughter was diagnosed with hepatitis and admitted to the hospital, his wife reassured him that the hospital asked them not to worry since they were in good hands with the doctor. This phase elicited feelings of safety, certainty, and commitment, as well as an overall sense of well-being. As a result, Ellis proposed the idea because it represented the values that the team wanted customers to identify with the brand. Hence, the slogan ‘You’re in Good Hands with Allstate’ was born as a result (Kotler &Armstrong, 2021). Essentially, the long-running Allstate motto became the most well-known slogan in the United States, and the firm rose to become the second-largest personal lines insurer in the country. Consequently, the tagline has survived the test of time and is now the longest-running slogan in marketing.
The slogan became successful because Allstate realized that customers, when purchasing insurances, want to feel safe and trust the company. Slogan should, above all, describe a benefit or solution to an issue or difficulty that will benefit the company’s consumers (Neilson, 2017). Exploring the clients’ wants is one technique for the organization to create a positive message. A meaningful phrase has to resonate with customers more than simply the brand name since a good slogan not only provides the consumer a promise but also informs them about the business (Neilson, 2017). The majority of slogans are the outcome of products or services provided by a company.
Allstate’s Mayhem Campaign
Allstate needed to introduce a creative campaign, even the company’s long-running ‘Good Hands’ slogan was successful. The competition was tough, and the company has many strong rivals, such as GEICO and Progressive. Allstate produced Mayhem’s character in order to overcome the competition. Mayhem well described not only the Allstate campaign but the whole industry of insurance advertising. The Mayhem campaign immediately received several top ad industry honors, according to Kotler and Armstrong (2021). The level to which the figure has become engrained in mainstream culture, though, maybe a better indicator of the campaign’s effectiveness.
As was mentioned above, Allstate tried to keep pace in the face of increased competition and advertising ingenuity. Moreover, Allstate has lost market share over 2008 and 2009, and the brand needed to create its outrageous personality (Kotler & Armstrong, 2021). As a result, Allstate practically brought Mayhem to life. The company produced the new terrifying Mayhem persona, performed by Dean Winters (Kotler & Armstrong, 2021). Significantly, the campaign’s purpose was to persuade consumers that insurance is about much more than simply pricing. Mayhem depicts all unexpected occurrences that might result in a significant insurance claim.
Mayhem leaps into the path of a moving automobile at night as a deer since that is what humans can do. He adores leaking sunroofs as a severe rainstorm, and as a defective GPS, he pushes a vehicle driving into another automobile. Additionally, the character pounds down a garage’s roof with snow till it falls, destroying the car within. Each wacky commercial concludes with the remark and question, “If you have cut-rate insurance, you could be paying for this yourself. Are you in good hands?” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2021, p. 440). Therefore, Allstate’s innovative and award-winning marketing has given the company’s long-standing ‘You’re in good hands with Allstate’ slogan a modern, attention-grabbing touch, helping to position the brand as a superior option to price-oriented rivals.
Advertising Message of Allstate’s Mayhem and Its Effectiveness
Mayhem is more than simply entertaining; it also has a message. At the end of each commercial, the character cautions that if people get low-cost insurance, they may be responsible for a specific catastrophe. The firm advises customers to purchase Allstate insurance in order to save money and be better protected against Mayhem. This powerful message brings Allstate back to the top of the customer value rankings. Kotler and Armstrong (2021) claim that although Mayhem only has roughly a third of Flo’s 5.4 million Facebook fans, he has nearly eight times the interaction rate of Progressive’s cheerful representative. When the character’s creator recently observed a trick-or-treater dressed as Mayhem coming down her neighborhood, she described it as a professional achievement that gave her shivers (Kotler &Armstrong, 2021).
Consequently, Allstate’s advertisements were not only imaginative but also profitable. According to Allstate CEO Thomas Wilson, the advertisements are powerful, as evidenced by Allstate’s quotations and growing business (Kotler &Armstrong, 2021). All the success encouraged Allstate to expand the campaign, which included the launch of Mayhem’s Hispanic cousin, Mala Suerte, which translates as ‘bad fortune’ and targeted Hispanic consumers. Allstate took Mayhem to the next level by providing him with his own Twitter account as part of the campaign extension. Allstate officials, who appeared to be late with the launch of the Twitter account, stated that the delay was purposeful. The advertising department at Allstate has been very cautious not to overdo Mayhem and not to overexpose him (Kotler &Armstrong, 2021). Therefore, the aim was to establish a good strategy for launching Mayhem’s Twitter account.
Mayhem polled fans at the start of the football season on whether he should depict a charcoal grill or an inexpensive bungee cord in the following commercial. The public chose the cord; Mayhem tweeted in defiance, “Too bad I’m a tailgate grill. Who’s got a light?” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2021, p. 440). He added Vine recordings showing a car that had caught fire due to a grill malfunction. Subsequently, to everyone’s delight, Allstate produced two new Mayhem commercials, namely “Tailgate Grill Fire” and “Cheap Bungee Cord” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2021, p. 440). Thus, Allstate reached its customers and created a meaningful connection by establishing a conversation.
Notably, Allstate was successful because, while selecting advertising media for the Mayhem campaign, the company concentrated on scenarios that may happen to anyone. Mayhem Hashtag Challenge is a new Allstate Mayhem ad in which a random driver is destructed by Mayhem, who is dancing on the street and recording himself to share the video on Instagram and gain tenths and tenths of views (Allstate, 2022). Mayhem’s dancing absorbs the driver’s attention that he fails to look at the road. As a result, the driver crashes his car into a parked truck. Mayhem continues to dance while pointing at the driver and claiming that he will regret it if he does not have the proper auto insurance coverage.
Conclusion
To summarize, Allstate’s slogan ‘Good Hands’ was successful because it portrayed the needs of the company’s target audience. For instance, insurance companies should provide safety, reliability, and trustfulness. Thus, Allstate illustrated that customers are in good hands through their slogan. Nevertheless, it is crucial to follow the market trends and continuously create a higher customer value to overcome rivalry. Allstate’s campaign ‘Mayhem’ was an innovative idea that helped the organization attract more customers and earn their loyalty. The creativity of advertisements demonstrating Mayhem facing various weird and dangerous life situations made customers laugh and realize that insurance is vital. Mayhem was an efficient campaign because it created value for customers and significantly increased its revenue. Thus, the role of marketing is not only to create an advertisement based on market and industry research but also to concentrate on customers, their needs and try to co-create value together.
References
Adhikari, P. (2018). Effect of corporate slogan on decision making of consumers. SOJ Psychology, 5(2), 1-4. Web.
Allstate. (2022). Mayhem hashtag challenge. [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2021). Principles of marketing (18th ed.). Pearson.
Neilson, J. (2017). How to build your brand by updating your slogan. Forbes. Web.