Farmers is the latest insurance company to use humor as a weapon in a pop-culture war between companies. It's a big change from the ante delluvian (pre-Geico) days when messaging around home, life
and auto insurance exploited either a "Mr. Rogers" type good-neighbor pitch, or a "told you so" censure of people who got double-slapped by a disaster and lousy coverage.
Farmers effort,
which includes TV involves a fictive "University of Farmers" overseen by a professor Nathaniel Burke, played by character actor J.K. Simmons. The national campaign, by RPA and Tool of North America
makes fun of educational films Beginning with TV ads that started late last month touting Farmers insurance agents as the best trained in the business.
While the university is fictional it is
an elaboration upon a real training center for agents in Agoura Hills, Calif. The scenarios shown on the TV ads and online videos at UniversityOfFarmers.com, show the professor leading training
sessions on home, auto and life insurance.
The site has interactive classrooms where site visitors can take quizes and interact in other ways. Stop-motion "educational" films showing
such examples as a woman whose car breaks down in the wrong part of town, recreated on the classroom stage. Site visitors can take a quiz that why people steal catalytic converters (for the platinum)
and if their answers are incorrect, a thug comes and removes the car's wheels and doors, leaving the chagrined woman sitting on a car chassis supported by cinder blocks.
Three TV spots
feature the Professor Nathaniel Burke character, wherein he teaches agents in a faux classroom. In one ad, a wave runner is caught on fire in a tree. Agents are quizzed and challenged by Professor
Burke.
In another a house is full of water due to frozen pipes. Agents diagnose the situation and give suggestions. IN the third, Autoboatome (all three in one) tests agents on why bundling
policies is a good idea and a great way to save money.