Critters Battle for Insurance Brand Connection – Can the Liberty Mutual Emu eclipse an infamous gecko?

What works for one brand should work for another, right? GIECO set a new standard in the insurance industry 20 years ago with a totally innovative and unexpected  approach to car insurance. They turned the rest of the old school insurance industry on their ear – they thought this approach would never get customers because no one would take them seriously – after all insurance is very serious stuff. But they kept the message simple – you know it, “15 minutes could…”. For 20 years that’s been the message, consistently, and is still the message today. Unwavering commitment to one thought. They showed the industry that they could entertain and not only succeed but dominate the car insurance space.

So, now that they’ve proved the point, the only logical step is for all other insurance companies to follow the pattern. Liberty Mutual has taken the bait. Over the past couple of years you may notice Liberty Mutual began a more humorous approach to their advertising. Spokesperson  characters at a fake waterfront in front of the Statue of Liberty (which must be frustrating for New Yorkers who know there’s no such location.) But in any case Liberty Mutual seeks to put their own spin on the successful formula. 

The latest series of Limu Emu commercials don’t have the level of wit that the leader has. It appears that the point of the team of Emu and Doug is to say to the customer that Liberty Mutual has agents that are present and in the community – as opposed to the leader who primarily works online – without agents in the field (which more recently they are addressing, more to come on that.)  

So let’s talk about that Emu. The obvious reason this bird was selected is the rhyme with LiMu (short for Liberty Mutual). So building a character and a campaign around a rhyme – is that a smart approach?  Well, it certainly poses its challenges. Does the character talk? What is the role of this character? Does this character even make sense? In my opinion the Emu is just that, a non-speaking addition to simply create a rhyming catch phrase that may (or may not) create any consumer connection. Although, they have learned the lesson of one simple message that is repeated consistently, “Only pay for…” you know the rest.  But the scenarios are not engaging, the team of Doug and the Emu are forced – which is no surprise when you have a client that wants one message and the creatives want something different. This blend of agent and character don’t work for me yet.  It might take time and evolution of the concept but for now the concept falls short. We’ll have to see how long this dynamic duo last, all for the sake of a name.