Ads We Like: Farmers Insurance honors Dr. Seuss
March 2 marks what would have been Dr. Seuss’s 115th birthday, and to celebrate his fantastic stories, Farmers Insurance is taking a page from Theodor Geisel in a new campaign that promotes reading.
Professor Burke of Farmers Insurance gets the Dr. Seuss treatment
Farmers Insurance, which has used its reality-based claims ads to educate people about insurance, is supporting and promoting early childhood reading through the legacy of Dr. Seuss. The company, along with agency RPA, created an animated read-along of the best-seller Oh, the Places You’ll Go! voiced by Farmers spokes-character Professor Burke (Academy Award–winner JK Simmons).
The video is available through digital and social channels and Farmers is encouraging teachers to use it in activities marking the day.
Said Leesa Eichberger, head of brand marketing at Farmers Insurance: “At Farmers, we wanted to recognize the witty and whimsical world of Dr. Seuss and celebrate our long-standing support of learning and education. We especially like how Dr. Seuss' delightful and unexpected storytelling complements our unbelievable-but-true 'We Know From Experience' campaign, allowing us to share in his whimsical world in an authentic way."
Farmers also created a 60-second journey, in the visual and narrative style of Dr. Seuss, through the world of strangely Seussian insurance claims they’ve seen and covered. The animated spot features reimagined claim stories, also voiced by Simmons as Professor Burke, and carries the message, “the more that you see, the more that you’ll know,” reminding people to go out and experience and learn more about the world.
With whimsical, page-turning animation, Simmons reads rhyming copy, including “You’ll see that nature sure is wild, so it’s where wild things belong. Like wild bears who might break in and moose too wild to play along.” The viewers are then encouraged to go to a dedicated web page that has all the Seuss-related material from Farmers, including the real stories that inspired the new animations.
Perrin Anderson, vice president, creative director at RPA, said: “We worked closely with the UK animation studio Passion, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises, to bring the story of all the strange and fantastical incidents Farmers has covered to life – in a way that pays respectful homage to Seuss’ visual and narrative style. Dr. Seuss Enterprises gave us access to their digital library, so we could sprinkle the wonderful Seuss characters and elements throughout our story in fun ways fans might recognize.”
Content created with:
Farmers Insurance
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