Great Success For All States' New Bad Boy

All State, who is well known for their slogan "the 'good hands' people" and actor/ narrator Dennis Haysbert, have introduced a new bad boy to their good image. In June of 2010 we were brought "Mayhem" played by actor Dean Winters. By definition mayhem means: Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing, wanton destruction. The perfect name for a character used to symbolize everything chaotic and everything All State insurance can protect us from. The commercials advertising their car insurance have featured several different scenarios of Mayhem portraying himself as: a typical teenage girl, a wild deer, a key against your side door, and a puppy that just ate your back seat. As hilarious as these commercials are, they can also represent devastating and costly events that happen to real people. I found that the most relatable commercial out of all of these was the one featuring Mayhem as "your blind spot". Surely is something every driver has a challenge with at one point or another. Using realistic visuals, strong appeals to their audiences' emotion and logic, and with a bit of dry humor, All State makes a strong claim for themselves that they are the car insurance you need to protect yourself from mayhem.

Visually this commercial is a genius. It features scenes that in real life could be a serious situations, but All State gives them a twist of humor, which, in turn, makes it recognizable and memorable to viewers . From the very start you see two vehicles on the freeway, one is approaching the main vehicle, a jeep, quickly on it's right-hand side. When the shot is outside of the vehicles, the noise of the engines are amplified to make it sound like you are outside with Mayhem, who throughout the commercial is conveniently standing in the blind spot of the woman who is driving the jeep. When the scenes switch to inside the jeep, the noise becomes muted like you are actually in the vehicle with the woman, who appears to be peacefully cruising along and doesn't even know what havoc mayhem is about to cause. While some might be able to sympathize with the woman who causes the accident, others can at least empathize with her situation. At the same time, we are able to get a good laugh in because mayhem makes our blind spot out to be super obnoxious which is very evident in the scene where mayhem looks in the review mirror of the woman and gives her the thumbs up, "Your good!" before she switches lanes, hitting another car, causing them both to go spinning (in slow motion of course, for effect) while the camera shot is doing a side-by-side of her screaming and him laughing hysterically.

When the recession hit, insurance companies made way by using price-oriented tag lines to attract consumers. Commercials like this one by All State, who are known for being more expensive, are giving companies like Geico and Progressive some tough competition. All State makes a direct stab at Progressive when Mayhem says to the viewers after the accident, "And if you named your own price on car insurance, you could be paying for this yourself". OUCH. If you have Progressive and are watching this commercial wouldn't you be asking yourself, "does my insurance cover this stuff?" I don't know anyone who would want to pay for an accident themselves. This makes the smart consumer think, "maybe cheap insurance doesn't necessarily equal good insurance." Then All State goes right ahead and ends it with the claim, "So get All State. You'll save money and be better protected from mayhem like me." In a time when people are being more frugal, who wouldn't want to save money and be better protected? After all that's what insurance is for, right?

Overall this commercial nails it when it comes to attracting consumers. It's fun to watch, relatable, informative, and most of all memorable to viewers who watch thousands of insurance commercials a year. From the start, Dennis Haysbert helped give All State their trusting image as a company with good values that is out there to help protect us from anything that comes our way. Then Dean Winters came along and showed consumers exactly what kind of "Mayhem" is out there that All State will protect them from. Essentially, they are the success of this commercial and the perfect marketing duo that helps convince us that having All State will protect us from any of life's mishaps, however big or small. After all, Mayhem is everywhere.