Last week, I found myself and two colleagues sitting in a taxi traveling to a client meeting when a discussion broke out about advertising…imagine that! Being steeped in the pharma industry, we often look at a broader range of consumer brands to explore trends, opportunities, and case studies. To me, advertising is advertising – the good and the bad, inside and outside of our industry.

I am continually intrigued by some of the attention-getting campaigns that hit consumers through various communication channels.  When you look at it, there are quite a few markets that have heated competition for our mind and soul.  Because after all, we have to spur people to act differently than what they would normally do – that’s what advertising is all about….right?

It all started with a gecko.

Anyway – back to the taxi….the conversation settled on the insurance market and what the titans Geico and Progressive have been doing.

Is there anyone who is not familiar with the Geico gecko?  Or their cavemen? And what about Flo, the spokesperson for Progressive – the latest entry into the market that has clearly struck a vein with their innovation pricing?  But what really had me and my colleagues fired up is what Nationwide has been doing to enter the fray.

Not the greatest spokesperson.

The “the World’s Greatest Spokesperson in the World” campaign has just kicked off…and if the three of us crammed in that ride were the final arbiters of life or death for this new campaign, it would die a slow death.

You see, other than an oddly interesting spokesperson, it seems the Nationwide message is really no different than what others are offering.  They are too late to the party of leveraging a consumer insight that says be memorable and catchy, make pricing a central theme, and people will beat a path to your door (or website, as the case may be).

In some ways, our triad felt Nationwide was perhaps trying too hard to drive recall and interest.  For our money, their character /campaign pushed too hard on that line between cool and annoying (assuming there exists such a line).

We need to be a little uncomfortable.

Which brings me back to the pharma industry….and the campaign work that we so consistently see in our marketplace.  Do we see connectivity in pharma campaigns that leverage a customer insight….or efforts that seem to repeat the same old thing regardless of the brand? Are we truly pushing to gain interest through new visuals and copy….or wind up repeating the same thing that is seen page after page?

Are we okay getting nervous about campaigns….but in a good way that allows strong advertising to do what it can: open doors (literally and cerebrally)? Don’t wait until you are in the back of a taxi to start your own conversation on this….in fact, let me know what you think!