AAA Reimagines Classic Hits in Ads for Its Insurance Products

A titanic tree crashes through your living-room wall, with glass, plaster and leafy branches careening all over the place. Quick: What do you do?

You sing, of course, about AAA’s insurance products, to the tune of a sappy ’80s staple by Air Supply.

“I’m all out of love, for my old insurance. 
Switched to InsurAAAnce, they’re saving me so much.
They cover my car and bundled with my home.
I feel so secure, to say I love InsurAAAnce.”

If you’re more of a ’90s R&B fan, here’s a boppin’, brand-centric take on “All My Life” by K-Ci & JoJo.

“I don’t want insurance providers,
I have InsurAAAnce, I have InsurAAAnce.
Service so good, it’s legendary. I love them so much.
InsurAAAnce, I prayed for service like you.
And I know they’ll be there for you too.”

Delivered from the heart! Well, from a wave-lapped, heart-shaped rock, at any rate.

People dislike insurance companies?

“InsurAAAnce is based on the research that people don’t like insurance providers, but love AAA,” say Milton Correa and Jones Krahl, executive creative directors at Deloitte Digital’s Heat, which developed the campaign. “So, we created this platform, just by adding the AAAs in the middle. We were then dying to come up with ways to give InsurAAAnce its big debut. We knew that if these spots needed to do one thing, it’s for people to go, ‘Oh cool, AAA has insurance.’ So, we started thinking about ways to express that love, and the next thing we knew we were serenading the whole office.”

Suck it, Air Supply!

“Initially we were going to ask for the original artists to record the new versions,” Correa and Krahl tell Muse. “But on ‘All Out of Love,’ it would’ve been weird since it’s an Air Supply song, and the hero in the spot is a woman.”

Lucy Woodward and Ronald Evans deliver the vocal chops, with actors Sarah Egger and Ernest Adriaansz appearing in the videos. Radical Media’s Dave Meyers, a supple and seasoned director of both music videos and commercials, doesn’t miss a beat with the spot-on visuals. Meyers and the team used iPads to guide the productions in Slovenia and Hawaii.

Yes, smack us so hard in the face.

As for the song selections, “All My Life” got the nod because “it’s one of those songs that smacks you so hard in the face with nostalgia that you can’t help but smile,” the ECDs explain. ” ‘All Out of Love’ just communicated the idea so clearly because no one really loves their insurance company. Plus, it burrows its way into your head and holds on forever—believe us. We heard our creative team, Scott Menzie and Candace Faircloth, sing these songs in every single meeting—for months in a row! So much so, that it was weird to hear the tracks with professional singers. Not the same.”

Can you dig it?

“We believe people will dig it because the spots feel sincere,” say Correa and Krahl. “These little love stories show how people really do feel about AAA. Plus, they’re dripping with old music-video references that make you feel good.”

Indeed, we’ve seen potent nostalgia in pandemic times, with Michael Bolton professing his love for Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar Mac & Cheese, and David Hasselhoff morphing into a crazed club DJ to hype a new video game.

CREDITS

CSAA Insurance Group
Service Like You :30, :15, :6
All Out of Love :30, :15, :6

Client
CSAA Insurance Group
Chief Marketing Officer: Linda Goldstein
Vice President External Affairs, Corporate Communications, Brand: Danielle Cagen
Creative and Brand Strategy Leader: Carrie Hack
Senior Program Manager: Stephanie Fitzgerald

Agency
Deloitte Digital’s Heat
Executive Creative Directors: Milton Correa, Jones Krahl, Elaine Cox
Senior Copy Writer: Scott Menzie
Senior Art Director: Candace Faircloth
Managing Director: Aaron Lang
Head of Account Management: Olivia Balicki
Account Director: Matt Porter
Account Supervisor: Cameron Hogan
Account Executive: Oliver Kiss
Chief Strategy Officer / General Manager: Justin Cox
Group Strategy Director: Jen Watts-Welsh
Strategy Director: Ryan Ouyoumjian
Head of Production: Elisa Moore
Executive Producer: Daniel Roversi

Production
Radical Media
Director: Dave Meyers
Director of Photography: Sebastian Blenkov
President: Frank Scherma
Executive Producer: Jim Bouvet 
Executive Producer: Rok Bukovec (Division Films)
Producer: Lisa Brugliera
Line Producer: Benjamin Begovic (Division Films) 
Music, Sound Design & Mix:

Premier Music Group
Music Supervisor: Aaron Mercer

New Math Music
Composers: Dan Sammartano (Service Like You), Jared Hunter (All Out of Love)
Mix & Sound Design: Joseph Spallina
Creative Directors: Raymond Loewy, David Wittman
Executive Producer: Kala Sherman
Producer: Jake Falby 
Editorial:

Cabine Editorial
Editor: Greg Scruton
Executive Producer: Remy Foxx
Producer: Katy Lester

Finishing
Jamm Visual
VFX Supervisor / Lead Flame:  Jake Montgomery
VFX Supervisor / Lead CG: Andy Boyd
Flame Artist: Mark Holden
Flame Artist: Patrick Munoz
Flame Artist: Glyn Tebbutt
Flame Artist: Steve Cokonis
Lead CG Artist: Brian Burke
Lead CG Artist: Zachary DiMaria
CG Artist: Ben Martin
CG Artist: Connie Ho
Producer: Ashley Greyson
Executive Producer: Asher Edwards

Color
Company 3
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
Producer: Gabriel Wakeman

Actors/Singers
Service Like You Vocalist: “truth city” a.k.a Ronald Evans
Service Like You Actor: Ernest Adriaansz 
All Out of Love Vocalist: Lucy Woodward
All Out of Love Actor: Sarah Egger