Toy Car Campaign

Role: Writer, Creative Director, Video Director & Producer, Voiceover
Winner: Gold, Silver, Judges Choice Addy Awards; Platinum Viddy Award

The assignment: Explain Hagerty’s complicated Guaranteed Value policy and show how much money you could lose with the wrong insurance—in 30 seconds.

Our solution: Cut a car in half. We ordered some toy cars and went to work with a sledgehammer and a circular saw.

The results: The ad was a big success, and evolved from a one-off video into an ongoing campaign with programatic, broadcast and social ads, emails, landing pages and more. These ads were created entirely in-house and are a good example of the many hats I wore: I served as Creative Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Video Director, and even voiceover when my temp VO track struck just the right chord.

Smashing

Results

45%⬆

Google searches for “Hagerty” among viewers

15%⬆

Insurance quotes YOY

Yellow sports car with blue car jack lifting the front end, dark background, text reading 'WE GET YOUR CAR FIXED,' Hagerty insurance logo, and a blue 'Quote now' button.

90%⬇

Savings

20 spots produced in-house for less than one spot from agency. 

A white SUV parked on a plain dark background with the days of the week, 'Monday' displayed at the top.
Miniature models of a Volkswagen van, a bowling ball on a wooden stand, and a small sign reading 'World's Largest Bowling Ball' on a table with a blurred background.
A collage with a quote about bad things happening to good cars, featuring images of three different cars and a quote from Hagerty.
A red toy sports car on a black surface with a background of wood logs, with overlay text: 'Pretend this is your collector car' and a blue button labeled 'Quote now' for HAGERTY insurance.
Miniature vintage and sports cars on a surface with a disco ball overhead, surrounded by gold confetti, with overlay text 'Ring in the new year with magically good coverage' and Hagerty Insurance logo.
Advertisement with two side-by-side images of cars and text about vehicle insurance. The left side shows a toy car under falling rain with a wooden plank and bricks on top, with the caption 'Bad things happen to good cars.' The right side displays a clean toy car with the text 'We make it right.'
Comparison between two toy cars with text: 'Bad things happen to good cars' over a dripping blue liquid on the car on the left, and 'Hagerty makes it right' with a clean, shiny car on the right.

Other Insurance Ads

A man sitting on a motorcycle at a bike shop with motorcycles in the background. Text overlay says 'There’s not an app for this' and 'Hagerty for people who love bikes' with a blue button that says 'Ride with us'.
A man driving a red 1967 Porsche 911S along a forested road, with the vehicle in motion and trees blurred in the background.
A silver sports car driving on a track with a grassy background. Text reads: 'Life happens on track day. Everything else is just practice.' Hagerty logo and a 'Learn more' button.
Four people enjoying time on a boat on a lake. One person is in the water holding a frisbee, and the others are on the boat. The boat is floating on water with a cloudy sky above. Text on the image says "NO WIFI NO PROBLEM" and promotes boat insurance from Hagerty.
Two cars racing on a track, with a caption promoting a Honda dealership and a call-to-action button to drive with them.
A classic silver vintage car driving on an open road with clear skies and mountains in the background, accompanied by promotional text for Hagerty insurance.