News | BRENDAN GIBBONS | ADWEEK

Brand of the Day: LeBron James was Flo for Halloween, as Progressive and Brendan Gibbons makes them BFFs.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship.

This isn’t just a quick stunt. Nope. It’s part of a new digital campaign that Progressive is calling “The Switch” (hopefully it’s more charming than the aggressively bad Jason Bateman-Jennifer Aniston romcom of the same name) that will include the brand’s first video Instagram spot later this week.

“We’ve paired the King of Sports, LeBron James, with the Queen of Marketing, Flo, for a unique, digital-first execution we’re calling ‘The Switch,'” chief marketing officer Jeff Charney said in a statement. “In the coming months, look for more digital bread crumbs that show a different side of each of these icons. The Switch is just getting started … there’s much more to come on Instagram and other channels. Stay tuned.”  Hmm … cryptic.

The brand has been rolling out shots of LeBron and Flo on Instagram this week. The Instagram spot is expected later this week. Progressive’s ads have a particular brand of humor, and the spot above fits in nicely with that. Personally, I’m not amused by hand puppets—though it is amazing that Flo is recognizible in such a fashion—but fake infomercials? Yes, please.

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