Progressive 2006 Annual Report Download - page 11

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Marketing Culture I have said that as a business we are good at three
things that really matter: allocating costs between consumers in ways
that best match their expected costs; managing the claims and ad-
ministrative costs that must ultimately be allocated; and providing
superior consumer experiences. In 2006, we added the need to be-
come equally good at marketing as we are in other skill areas to the
“things-that-really-matter” list. We have good reason to be pleased
with how the Progressive brand has developed in the last decade or
so, but as with all things that show opportunity for improvement, we
took stock of the relevance of our message and actions in today’s
marketplace. In doing so, we saw opportunities to advance in many
areas ranging from market intelligence gathering, to consumer feed-
back, to consistency of brand communication, to retailing of product
features, to a more effective use of our skills and talents. In the latter
part of 2006, we dedicated resources to take a pragmatic look at all
marketing and brand activities, and to confirm or amend as necessary
the foundation of our brand and consumer promise. A few highlights
are important to share.
Perhaps the most significant finding is the powerful association
consumers and agents have with the Progressive name. Our 2004
introduction of our Agency Business brand, Drive® Insurance from
Progressive had, for some, de-emphasized Progressive and created
unintended separation from our claims service. In response, in
February 2007, we announced that we repositioned the Progressive
name in the name of all products we sell, allowing agents to more
effectively leverage the power of the Progressive name as our single
brand name. Progressive Drive Insurance is the name of the private
passenger auto product sold through independent agents. This
preserves the agent-specific product identity for our private passen-
ger auto product that we desire, while increasing the emphasis on
the Progressive name. Progressive Direct is the name used for the
private passenger auto product sold directly by the company online
and by phone. Progressive Commercial, Progressive Motorcycle,
Progressive RV, Progressive Boat, etc. are the names of our non-private
passenger auto products sold by agents and directly. A change of this
nature was not something we expected so soon after market intro-
duction of the Drive name, but with an increasing focus on our
concierge claims service and other aspects of the Progressive brand,
we wanted all customers to associate with the Progressive name and
have our agents offer to their customers one more strong reason to
buy Progressive.
The images in this report are those of real customers, reinforcing
that a marketing culture for us starts with respect for the customer
and an increased appreciation of the relevance of our product and
what works and what doesn’t.
It’s about you. And it’s about time.
SM is our new advertising tagline,
but it’s much more than that; it’s a positioning we will challenge
ourselves to live up to.
Our work around reaffirming and challenging our brand promise
to consumers includes ensuring that all our internal pricing and cus-
tomer experience actions are consistent with the brand. Predictably,
we have opportunities to improve. Pleasantly, we confirmed that we
offer distinctive benefits that are truly valued by consumers, and
greater opportunity to ensure we present our full story. With the
assistance of new advertising and creative resources, we expect to
advance quickly on closing identified gaps.
Treat others as we would like
to be treated; it’s key to delivering
on our brand promise.