Which Insurance Ads Actually Change Minds?

New Research · Property & Casualty Insurance · 2026

We Benchmarked Six Insurance Campaigns. Here's What Actually Persuaded Buyers:

ViewShift benchmarked six ads from Progressive, State Farm, and Liberty Mutual - the results showed positive lift from humor... but the winning ad was 2x as persuasive as the rest.

A new report reveals brand-by-brand scorecards, audience deep dives, the recall-vs-persuasion disconnect explained, and 7 specific recommendations for brand marketers preparing their next campaign.

Not all humor is created equal

Every brand tested used humor. Every ad moved the needle. But one brand's creative outperformed the rest by a wide margin — and the reasons have everything to do with storytelling, not just jokes.

The audience most brands are missing

18-34 yr olds were the hardest segment to move across all three brands. Only one insurer found a way in — and its approach offers a blueprint for anyone targeting this cohort.

Switching isn't just possible — it's already happening

Conventional wisdom says existing policyholders are locked in. This research says otherwise. Select ads persuaded people who already carry insurance to consider a competitor, revealing what it takes to earn a second look.

Your most famous ad might not be your best one

The most remembered creative in this study wasn't the most persuasive. If your post-campaign reports lean on recall as the primary effectiveness metric, this finding should give you pause.

ViewShift Index

We’ve been tracking 10+ insurance brands for ad performance against each other. Curious to know where your creative ranks vs. peers?

ViewShift Index scores your ads against the market’s fastest-growing normative database, tracks competitor creative in real time, and gives you dimension-level insight to sharpen every round of creative.

See how your insurance creative scores against the market →

We Benchmarked Six Insurance Campaigns. Here's What Actually Persuaded Buyers:

What you'll find inside:

Every brand tested used humor. Every ad moved the needle. But one brand's creative outperformed the rest by a wide margin — and the reasons have everything to do with storytelling, not just jokes.

The most remembered creative in this study wasn't the most persuasive. If your post-campaign reports lean on recall as the primary effectiveness metric, this finding should give you pause.