Farmers Insurance is refreshing its brand with a new platform, positioning and campaign, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The “Honesty Is Our Policy” platform includes new ad spots, an all-pink makeover and a twist to its iconic jingle. The effort is intended to help the nearly 100-year-old brand stand out amid a “sea of sameness” in the insurance category and meet evolving consumer needs, said Eleanor Solomon, head of creative at Farmers.
“Consumers don't just think insurance is complicated — they often feel a little disconnected from it, and we really believe that we're different and that we can help provide clarity and transparency,” Solomon said. “We've got some ambitious growth goals, so that ties to it, but that's why [we] rebranded now.”
As part of the effort, the “We Are Farmers” earworm — and its “bum, ba dum, bum-bum bum-bum” melody — has become “You Have Farmers.” The change to one of the brand’s most durable assets, first launched in 2009, shifts the tagline from a declarative statement to a customer benefit.
“[The jingle] is a really meaningful asset for us. We have a lot of equity in it, so we definitely didn't want to lose that as part of this rebrand,” Solomon said. “We decided to flip it because that's what we want people to believe: That you have Farmers, you have professionals helping you make those decisions… It’s a simple but meaningful flip.”
The campaign includes three new spots. A 30-second hero introduces a choir that sings different messages to the jingle's melody, like “We own pink now, but we sort of went too far.” The same set-up appears in the 30-second “The Choir” and the 15-second “Jinx” spots that have a similarly comedic back-and-forth.
The vibrant pink that is the brand’s new color palette could help it stand out from what is almost literally a sea of blues — and the occasional red — in the insurance category. In kind, the diverse choir in the ads is a different approach in a space dominated by brand characters and zany humor.
“From a creative perspective, our category typically focuses on using humor, and I think sometimes that humor distracts. I think we're maybe less humorous and more clever. You're not laughing out loud,” Solomon said of the tone of the ads.
The campaign will run across broadcast, digital, social, out-of-home and experiential channels starting today. The new work is the first from Dentsu Creative since being named the brand's creative agency of record in April. The brand selected the agency to lead creative across brand, performance, social and sponsorship channels.
“We did conduct a very thorough RFP back in the springtime, and we had many stakeholders internally be part of it as well,” Solomon said. “We've taken a very collaborative approach to building out this campaign, working very closely across our brand strategy and creative, and then alongside our media partners, as well, to ensure a really cohesive and impactful platform and campaign launch.”
