Young Homeowners (25-39) represent the largest segment of first-time homebuyers and shop for insurance at the same frequency the total population shops for auto insurance. This audience is at a moment of moving from one life stage to next with the purchase of their first home, and Progressive wants to help navigate these moments of growth. But we needed to breakthrough with something young homeowners already cared about in a way that didn’t feel like traditional advertising. Enter music; a universal passion for many young homeowners, and podcasts; with 75M monthly listeners and 66% of those listeners between ages 18-34.

While Progressive is most well-known for traditional advertising (TV, radio, OLV), the podcast effort in both platform and topic was unique for the brand. We partnered with St. Vincent, as host, to produce a podcast where she interviews up-and-coming artists on the brink of making it big. The location and discussions were largely influenced by St Vincent’s style and creativity. Allowing dialogue to go where it may, lead to original and exclusive conversations fans likely haven’t heard before from any of the artists.

With very light branding touches, we landed on something people would want to engage with and therefore created a new kind of awareness for Progressive as a brand that’s “for people like me.”

Give people a reason to join and stay with Progressive that’s more than price. Through music, we show Young Homeowners that what matters to them matters to us. And the tie to Progressive is simple, put a spotlight on musicians through the lens of home. We lean on an established host to gain interest but focus the content on emerging artists who are in a moment of graduating their careers. Progressive Home Insurance supports people about to take the next step; whether you’re about to buy your first home or about to make it big, they make the transition a bit easier.

The six-episode podcast launched on major podcast platforms. Emerging artists chatted with St. Vincent about everything from shower shoes to each artist’s “made it” moment. And of course, the music itself, where artists put on private concerts in the shower.

We developed a microsite to house original content. A fluorescent pink and green bathroom decked out in odd but eye-catching trinkets as backdrop fit our host perfectly. The podcast launched as part of a paid social campaign with Facebook ads garnering awareness and driving folks to the microsite.

This first campaign was followed by second series of Facebook ads driving consideration and quotes with music as the connective thread. Homeowners don’t always understand the importance of insurance, but they do understand music. Enter cautionary band posters. We partnered with several artists to create band posters featuring common insurance coverages rebranded as musical events.

This first-time podcast for Progressive used a growing platform to amplify a brand message in a way we hoped would connect with an audience we know tunes out traditional advertising. Paired with complimentary paid social, the Shower Sessions campaign showed us that breaking through with an idea and platform of interest to our audience works. In addition to seeing an increase among young homeowners in consideration, response and conversation rate all without a single insurance TV commercial, we were recognized in PR including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Flood Magazine and others. Shower Sessions also ended up on Esquire Magazine’s “93 Best Podcasts of 2020.”