Many Insurers Take a Pass On Super Bowl Advertising.

Many U.S. insurers sat on the sidelines during Super Bowl XXXV, allowing corporate titans like Anheuser-Busch and Charles Schwab Corp. to carry the advertising ball.

The general consensus among insurers like State Farm, Allstate, MONY, Geico, Prudential and John Hancock was that the $2.4 million to $2.5 million for a 30-second spot was too pricey for their ad budgets. Most of these insurers spend between $8 million and $30 million a year on national television advertising.

State Farm, however, did run spots on the Super Bowl radio broadcast, "because it's more affordable," said Zoe Younker, a company spokeswoman.

Overall, ad sales were not brisk for the January classic. The Wall Street Journal reported that CBS, the television network that aired the game, had 10% of its commercial inventory left unsold three weeks before the game. The usual unsold inventory at that point is 5%. Various press reports blame the drought on the slowing economy and a dearth of dot-coms that fed the Super Bowl ad machine last year to the tune of $44 million.

Steve Johnston, vice president of advertising and brand management for Nationwide, the fifth-largest U.S. private-passenger auto insurer based on 1999 direct premiums, said his company was "concentrating on local and regional advertising to support our agent force. Super Bowl advertising is outrageously expensive; you get significant exposure, but it's not worth a one-time event for us."

Even mega-advertiser Geico, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary that spent $300 million to $350 million on all its advertising in 2000, passed on advertising during the Super Bowl, citing the expense.

Allstate, the second-largest U.S. private-passenger auto insurer based on 1999 direct premiums, is aligning its 2001 advertising plans with its state-by-state rollout of its Good Hands Network--the company's new distribution model that blends the use of the Internet and toll-free number service with Allstate's agent force. "We're going with a local focus in advertising as we roll out the new ways to access Allstate," said Mike Trevino, a company spokesman.

Some advertising experts predict that the Super Bowl slowdown reflects what will be a "soft landing" for advertising sales in 2001. Competitive Media Reporting estimates a slim 3.8% rise in ad spending this year, and Robert Coen of Universal McCann projects ad spending to increase 5.8% in 2001.

Progressive and Hartford have advertised in past Super Bowls. Progressive's E.T. commercial ran during the 1998 Super Bowl. But after spending $20 million to secure rights to use the movie personality's name Progressive relegated the extraterrestrial to being the company's "safety ambassador."

In his annual letter to shareholders in 2000, Progressive's Chairman Peter Lewis admitted that the No. 4 auto writer, based on A.M. Best Co. data, didn't get the hoped-for consumer response. Lewis attributed the foray to "inexperience and probably a bit of hubris." For 2001, Progressive has a new ad campaign that will focus on building brand and generating a direct response from consumers. Progressive has spent about $70 million on advertising, and Consumer Marketing Director Dave Pratt says the company will increase its ad budget slightly for 2001 as it continues to focus on advertising in 100 local markets and on cable networks like Lifetime and The Weather Channel.

Hartford used its Super Bowl venture in 1999 to get the word out about becoming a financial-services company. "It was an efficient way to reach our target audience because we had a new and different message and we got lots of attention from just being a participant. But we're passing this year; it's not cost efficient for us," said Sue Honeyman, a Hartford spokeswoman.