Match Marketing Wins Big at Pro Awards

In the picture: (L-R) JP Stacey Account Supervisor Alison Romer Account Supervisor

Activation agency Match Marketing Group (MMG) won four PRO awards for work done on behalf of its Progressive Insurance and Jennie-O Ground Turkey clients. Chief Marketer announced the winners of its 27th annual PRO Awards at a June 13 luncheon. The PRO Awards honours promotional campaigns, experiential marketing and activations.

MMG picked up three honors for Progressive: a Gold in the Best Cause-Based Campaign category for “Mos and Motos”; a Bronze for “Mos and Motos” in the Best Multicultural/Lifestyle/Age-Targeted Campaign category, and an Honorable Mention for the Progressive “Ride Together” effort (Best Multicultural/Lifestyle/Age-Targeted Campaign). The agency won a Silver for Hormel’s Jennie-O Make the Switch Tour and Switch Booth in the Best Sampling or Trial Recruitment Campaign category.

In 2015, Progressive joined forces with the Men’s Health Foundation for its Movember mustache-growing campaign geared toward spreading awareness about the importance of men’s health. MMG and the brand created the Progressive Mos and Motos Movember Network Page as a platform for stories, photos, health tips and donations, and to connect male riders to the movement and one another through the lens of motorcycle riding and culture. 

In 2016, the program was expanded into a multifaceted campaign that blended online and offline efforts such as events with three partner brands. This resulted in $550,000 in network donations—a 450% return on the $100,000 campaign budget—which made Progressive the No. 1 performing Movember brand partner.

Women are the fastest growing demographic in the motorcycle-riding community—they currently register 14% of the 8.4 million motorcycles on record in the U.S., and that statistic has doubled in the last 10 years. To forge a relationship with women motorcycle riders and become a valued brand partner in the insurance space, Progressive teamed with Babes Ride Out—an up-and-coming event that hosts a women’s-only campout, music festival and celebration for female motorcycle riders in Joshua Tree, Calif.

The Progressive Dark Room was a festival hub where attendees met up and checked out photos taken by guests on their journeys to Joshua Tree and during their time in the desert. Everything was coordinated in advance through Progressive’s dedicated Instagram page, where guests used #ProgressiveMC hashtag to link their photos to the event. All 1,800 Babes Ride Out attendees visited the Dark Room and 2,888 photos were printed for display.

The Jennie-O Make the Switch Tour was aimed at increasing awareness for turkey as a healthy, delicious alternative to other meats through a mobile tasting experience. The tour’s positive results were amplified through social, digital, print and TV to further illustrate the point and inspire even more people to follow suit. Make the Switch resulted in more than one billion media impressions and a 31.7% increase in Jennie-O sales.