The secret behind
the long union of
Allstate, Burnett
Like in most marriages, there’s sometimes mayhem,
but a lot can be learned from this 54-year relationship
■ BY E.J. SCHULTZ eschultz@adage.com
MIDWAY THROUGH AN important
meeting before the launch of a big
campaign, Allstate Senior VP-
Marketing Lisa Cochrane turned to the
dozen or so people in the room and
asked, “Does everybody here besides
me know ‘Safety Dance’?”
Her creative agency, Leo Burnett,
had just shown her an ad featuring the
hit song from the ‘80s. But it was for-
eign to Ms. Cochrane, and she won-
dered if viewers would be just as lost. A
collection of media-buying and creative
professionals from Allstate, Leo Burnett
and media agency Starcom sat around a
conference table littered with boxed
lunches, coffee cups and soda cans. After
a brief silence, her colleagues began to
tease her. Of course they knew “Safety
Dance.” Who doesn’t?
“It has 8 million views, by the way,”
said Charley Wickman, Leo Burnett’s
executive creative director, pulling up
the video on You Tube.
Keep it close
The Burnett-Allstate people get along,
maybe because they spend so much
time together. Team members meet
every Thursday, usually in a conference
room at the insurer’s massive headquarters in suburban Chicago. Burnett,
which is based downtown, has its own
room on the site.
Ms. Cochrane sits in a large cubicle,
not a separate office, to better facilitate
constant interaction. “I would say
probably 24 hours a week, I am with
Burnett people in some way, shape or
form,” she said.
The practice became ingrained early
in her advertising career, when Ms.
Cochrane was at Ogilvy & Mather and
assigned to the Sears account. At least
twice a week she worked from an office
on the 73rd floor of the Sears Tower,
even though her agency was a short cab
ride away.
“The client wanted me there with
them,” she said. “It was hard, but it was
great for me and it was great for them.
And that’s kind of how I
believe in working.”
LISACOCHRANE:
The senior VP-marketing performs a “Safety”
at Allstate.
Ms. Cochrane had her answer. The
meeting moved on, with more banter,
straight talk and enough laughs to liven
up a tedious review of the final details of
ads set to launch in days for a new
claims offering.
When you’ve worked together for 54
years, as Burnett and Allstate have, this
is how things go. There are no pretenses
and no political speak. Most of all, no one
thinks a misstep here or there will lead to
a divorce—a common fear in adland,
where client-agency relationships are
measured in months rather than years.
So how have they done it, and what
lessons does their partnership hold for
others? To get some insights, Ad Age
sat in on a late-December meeting and
interviewed key members of the
Burnett-Allstate team. Here is what
we found:
Keep it honest
There was no question
about who was running the
meeting last month.
Between sips of soup, Ms.
Cochrane fired questions as
the team went over radio,
digital and TV ads for the
“claims satisfaction guarantee” program, which promises compensation to customers unhappy with the
service they get.
But as she drilled down into the tiniest details, Burnett didn’t hesitate to
push back.
Ms. Cochrane asked if they really
needed a period after the sentence “Get
the confidence of Allstate.”
“It felt declarative,” Mr. Wickman
shot back.
“OK, you’re the boss,” she replied.
They threw another ad up on the
screen, featuring a man having roadside
trouble in the middle of nowhere.
“What was that noise? It sounds
like crickets,” Ms. Cochrane said, sug-
gesting that it was too loud. “Is it too
late to make a sound change?”
She then added, “I really want every-
one to tell me if I’m just being petty.”
Mr. Wickman replied, “I don’t think
it’s that big a deal.”
The back-and-forth illustrates a
hallmark of this relationship. No one is
reluctant to speak his mind.
See ALLSTATE on Page 10
WENDY CLARK,
SENIOR VP-INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS AND CAPABILITIES,
COCA-COLA
“Great clients are generally
more concerned about their impact and
output than on their greatness. That is our
enduring focus in 2012. From my
experience, great leaders make great
clients. Sun Tzu identified five
characteristics of great leaders that endure
today—brave, caring, disciplined, smart and
trustworthy. If we focus on being better
leaders, we’ll ultimately be better clients,
too.”
JOHN COSTELLO,
CHIEF GLOBAL MARKETING AND INNOVATION
OFFICER AT DUNKIN’ BRANDS
“The best way to be a better
client is to be a better
partner, with clear objectives, open
communication, quick, thoughtful decisions
and mutual respect, where you both listen to
each other’s point of view.”
MARC SPEICHERT
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, L’ORÉAL USA
“To be as opento feedbackas
possible, we put inplace an
evaluation of ourselves aswell
as our agencies so we can identify the areas of
opportunitythe agency sees inthe relationship,
so we can go backand address itin the same
way we give feedback to the agency.”
TONY PACE,
CMO-SUBWAY FRANCHISEE ADVERTISING FUND
TRUST
“We are going to say ‘thank
you’ more often. Our work
stands out in a highly competitive and
marketing-sensitive category. It drives our
business. We appreciate that and need to
continue to reaffirm that. We are also going
to resolve to be even more precise in our
creative briefs because we know that is the
foundation of powerful work. And we are
going to provide consolidated feedback so
the basis for any revisions/ modifications to
work is clear.”
MARTINE REARDON,
EXEC VP-MARKETING AND ADVERTISING, MACY’S
“Everything moves so quickly now that we
HO
TO B
BET
CLI
So what can you do to beco
asked prominent marketers
so far and how they resolve
Perhaps some of their res
don’t always take enough time early in
planning to get all parties collectively
thinking and grounded in the same
information. I resolve to be more
thoughtful in how we communicate with
and educate everyone at the start of an
effort so that we achieve the strongest
JAKEMANWILLBEBUSY,FITANDTALKATIVE
Three tips from Brad Jakeman, president-global enjoyment brands, chief creative officer, PepsiCo
1. BE OPEN TO ALL SOURCES OF CREATIVITY, BUT
DON’T GET DISTRACTED BY SHINY OBJECTS.
Popular culture is brimming with incredible
storytellers, visual artists and utility builders. The
trick is to be open to collaboration but
retain the ability to curate content
and media in a way to build
compelling stories and
application for our brands.
Top clients in 2012 will work
inventively with agencies,
content producers,
technologists, inventors,
designers, celebrities,
futurists and new media
owners. I expect to be
kinda busy.
2. LISTEN TO EVERY CONSUMER’S EVERY WORD.
It might be information minestrone out there,
but smart listening tools that generate real-time
cultural insights and consumer feedback are
critical in establishing and retaining relevance,
especially for pop-culture brands like ours. So, I
expect to be kinda busy ... and kinda fit.
3. SPREAD THE WORD OFTEN AND PASSIONATELY.
It comes down to a shared understanding of
vision, targets and accountability. ...The client
must set out the rules of engagement. The role
of clients is part visionary, part coach, part
curator, part choreographer, part inventor and
part evangelist. I expect to be kinda busy, kinda
fit and kinda talkative.
