Rachel Dratch Feels the Future in off Beat American Home Shield Spots

Frontdoor, Inc, the parent company of American Home Shield, the US’s leading provider of home service warranties, announced a new national marketing campaign that began yesterday.

The multi-channel national campaign has a new tagline – 'Don’t Worry. Be Warranty.' – a new brand character – Warrantina, played by SNL legend Rachel Dratch – and a new website and brand visual identity.

“Our campaign is all about showing consumers the value of having a home warranty plan. Many don’t understand how a home warranty can protect them financially against the inevitable failure of their appliances or systems like an air conditioning unit,” said Kathy Collins, Frontdoor’s chief revenue officer who also oversees marketing. “We are launching with a new look and feel, and with Rachel, we have someone who is funny, relatable and will bring to life the value of helping consumers protect their most valuable asset – their homes.”

In the ads, American Home Shield’s new brand voice comes to life through 'Warrantina,' the brand character played by, and created in partnership with, Rachel.

“When you think of home warranties, you probably don’t think comedy. I like trying to make anything funny, so it was an irresistible opportunity to collaborate on creating this fun character of Warrantina - an unexpected heroine of sorts!" Rachel said. “The character is a bit new age, a bit mystical and definitely a little off! She can feel the future because she’s so in touch and can sense the positive energy that comes with being covered by a home warranty. I love that American Home Shield was willing to have a sense of humour around home warranties, and the finished product feels more like a comedy sketch to me than an ad. But of course I also learned about home warranties along the way!” she said.

Frontdoor partnered with its creative agency of record, Fallon, to develop the campaign. The ads were shot on location in Los Angeles in February.

“Creating a character from scratch with the celebrity talent who will play her is so rare in advertising. And Warrantina feels equally once-in-a-lifetime. She’s quirky, fun-loving, questionably mystical, and overly passionate about warranties. We wanted to embody the notion of making warranty a mindset with ‘Don’t Worry. Be Warranty.’ Rachel, as Warrantina, does that. She’s the perfect combination of advertising and sketch comedy and custom fit for American Home Shield,” said Emily Swenson, creative director at Fallon.

In addition to the new spots and tagline, the brand refresh includes a revitalised visual identity (logo, type, art direction, etc). Across all aspects of the launch, the goal is to help people think about warranties in a new, more positive way, and to maybe have a laugh along the way. The updated visual identity is a nod to the brand's history, where the look and feel was inspired by vintage meets modern aesthetics.

Chemistry, which serves as Frontdoor’s media, digital and social agency of record, helped create the new American Home Shield website.

Additionally, Kathy said the brand has partnered with World Wrestling Entertainment to launch the campaign. “Partnering with WWE allows us to introduce American Home Shield and the value of a home warranty to their very large and passionate fan base,” she said.

The campaign launches April 1st across broadcast, digital, and social media channels.