Back in January, Arnold Worldwide created a spot for Progressive parodying the after school specials of the 70s and 80s. Now, with the school year weeks away, the agency has created a follow-up ad with “After School Special Too.”
Like its predecessor, the spot apes the grainy film quality of the time period to more convincingly parody the style, with the wonky soundtrack also (intentionally) dating the ad. This time around, Flo walks in on a peer pressure scene, with a group yelling for a young Progressive employee to chug milk. He admits to Flo that he only chugged the milk because they said it would make him cool, to which she responds, “They don’t sound cool to me,” delivered very much like a line out of a vintage after school special. She then ties the message of sticking up for yourself to Progressive’s name your own price tool allowing customers to choose the price that’s right for them, before remembering that the milk-chugger is lactose intolerant. (Apparently the spot ends right before things get really messy.) It’s worth pointing out that this appears to be the same guy Flo cheered up with the promise of an ice cream cone in the last spot. Continuity error aside, while all the details are firmly in place (right down to the font of the logo at the end of the ad) the approach doesn’t have the same impact the second time around, with the gotcha line in “After School Special Too” also lacking the same kind of impact as its predecessor.
Credits:
Arnold Worldwide:
Executive Creative Directors: Wade Devers and Pete Johnson
Group Creative Director: Sean McBride
Art Director: Nate Donabed
Copywriter: Josh Kahn
Producer: Mike Lawson
Planner: Cordelia Fasoldt
Marketing: Elliott Seaborn, Val Bettini, Gail Felcher, Louisa Cronan
Progressive:
Chief Marketing Officer: Jeff Charney
Director of Integrated Marketing: Bruce Perlman
Director of Marketing: Miriam Deitcher
TV Production:
Production Company: Station Films
Production Company Executive Producer: Stephen Orent
Director: Brendan Gibbons
Cinematographer: Jimmy Whitaker
Editorial Company: Cutting Room
Editor: Merritt Duff