RIP, Erin Esurance: $100M Account Move Puts Final Nail in Her Coffin
Esurance moved its $100 million ad account to Leo Burnett, which means two things: Erin Esurance, the pink-haired auto-coverage spy is now dead; and Burnett has finally won a major account after a dry spell that featured just one significant new account since Q3 2009.
Insurance is the hottest and most lucrative advertising category right now. Spending is up 25 percent over the last year to $5 billion across all brands, according to Esurance spokesperson Danny Miller. Geico alone spends $1 billion on its Gecko, its cavemen and other work, and Progressive (PGR) spends $600 million on its "Flo" campaign, he said.
The creative work is also generally top-notch. Progressive's Flo and All State's Mayhem are in a battle with the Coke polar bears, the Energizer bunny and others for a place on the Advertising Walk of Fame.
Esurance, by contrast has struggled creatively. Erin lost her job as the star of the Esurance campaign because of her unpopularity and her unofficial sex life. Erin's ghost continued to appear as an icon on the clothing and in the background of the more recent Esurance advertising, but ad agency Duncan/Channon's office-bound programmers and phone reps never really caught on:
When asked whether Erin would make a return in Burnett's new advertising, Miller said the company would continue to move away from its history of animated spots toward humans:
I would say, that evolution will continue. I can't speak that specifically but it's reasonable to expect that evolution will continue.
Companies rarely declare their own ad icons officially "dead" just in case they need to bring them back. So that's as close as we're going to get to seeing Erin's death certificate.
UPDATE: Miller asked BNET to clarify the following points:
- Erin was never "unpopular" â€" rather, she was very successful for us for several years and is a rich part of our history.
- At no time during our conversation did I say that Erin was dead.
- We could bring back Erin at any time.
Bonus points: Check out this YouTube video if you want to see what the actress who did Erin's voiceovers looks like in real life.