When the insurance industry swings into their ad spending cycle, consumers definitely take notice.
A September wave of new Allstate “Mayhem” and Progressive “Flo” ads, the GEICO camel becomes the subject of an ESPN parody spot, and State Farm premiering a new quarterback Aaron Rodgers spot for the new NFL season have kick started all four insurance brands to their highest consumer word of mouth levels of the year.
After all four brands took lengthy but mild perception lulls throughout most of first half of the year, with Progressive remaining the steadiest, they all came charging back starting the end of July.
State Farm has lead the pack since the surge began, with GEICO aggressively closing in and making the biggest word of mouth leap. Progressive’s gains were modest, leveling off on September 13th, while Allstate was able to catch up and tie it for third position.
Allstate, GEICO, Progressive and State Farm were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Word of Mouth, which asks respondents, "Which of the following brands have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks (whether in person, online or through social media)?" All respondents are adults 18+.
YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score ranges from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback
State Farm ran up from a Word of Mouth score of 9 on July 18th to a 2013 high of 12 on September 22nd, where it still remains. GEICO started with a 7 score on July 27th, ramping up to 11 on September 18th. Geico is now two points behind State Farm with a current score of 10.
Progressive’s ascent didn’t begin until August 9th with a 7 Word of Mouth score, peaking at 9 on September 13th, where it still remains. Allstate started last, on August 28th with a score of 6 and is now at the same level as Progressive with a 9 score.
Word of Mouth: Allstate, Geico, Progressive, State Farm,
