Mayhem (advertising character)

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Face shot of actor Dean Winters
Actor Dean Winters, who portrays the advertising character Mayhem for Allstate

Mayhem is an advertising character, portrayed by Dean Winters, in an insurance advertising campaign by Allstate. The character Mayhem is essentially a metaphor for any disaster that might befall a member of the target demographic, and tries to warn people that if they don't have enough insurance coverage, they could have to pay for it out of their own pockets.

Allstate launched the campaign and its character in 2010 to pursue a younger demographic.[1] The character was created by the Chicago-based advertising agency Leo Burnett and the insurance company Northbrook. Burnett pitched the character to Allstate as "Mr. Mayhem", comparing him to the character Mr. White from the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, played by Harvey Keitel. Allstate approached Dean Winters in April 2010 and offered him the role.[2]

Allstate developed the campaign and the character in response to being ranked fourth in advertising spending behind Geico, State Farm, and Progressive. Allstate had an existing campaign called "Our Stand" featuring Dennis Haysbert that targeted "older, more traditional customers", and the company sought to develop a campaign that would skew toward younger customers.[2] Nina Abnee, executive vice president at Burnett, said "We wanted to kick Flo's ass."[3] The campaign was first launched in mid-June 2010. The character was featured in TV and radio spots as well as on billboards and Internet banners. Some ads were adjusted to capture local details. By mid-2011, Allstate had won around 80 industry awards for the campaign.[2]

A running gag throughout the campaign is that in each new TV spot, Mayhem sports all the damage and injuries sustained in the previous ones, such as scratches on his face and rips in his suit.

Advertising Age reported in February 2011 that Mayhem rose to third as most-recognized advertising character, behind the Geico gecko and Flo from Progressive Insurance. An online survey showed that the Geico gecko and Flo were each tied to their respective companies over 90% of the time. For Mayhem, the Age said, "After the top two, the most-recognized ad description was Allstate, with 65% of consumers saying they knew the ad, although when those same consumers were asked to associate it with a brand, only 63% correctly matched Mayhem with Allstate. (Overall, however, among the total sample, Mayhem clocked in with only 41% of respondents being able to link him to Allstate.)"[4]

References

  1. ↑ Choi, Candice (October 27, 2010). "Allstate's profit surges as investments improve". Businessweek. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Johnson, Steve (June 1, 2011). "Behind the scenes with Allstate's Mayhem man". Chicago Tribune. 
  3. ↑ Schultz, E.J. (February 21, 2011). "How the Insurance Industry Got Into a $4 Billion Ad Brawl". Advertising Age. 
  4. ↑ Pollack, Judann (February 21, 2011). "In the Insurance Ad War, Consumers Ask: Who's Who?". Advertising Age. 

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