Farmers Honors Dr. Seuss With a Storybook About All the Seussian Insurance Claims It's Seen

The fantastical world of Dr. Seuss isn’t too far removed from the outlandish scenarios in Farmers Insurance’s “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two” campaign from agency RPA. 

So this year, for Theodor Geisel’s 115th birthday, Farmers went full Dr. Seuss—creating a TV spot in the style of a Seuss storybook, all about unbelievable-but-true Seussian insurance claims they’ve seen and covered over the years. 

Trying to write copy in Seuss’s inimitable style is a bit of a thankless task, but RPA does a good job here bringing the Seussian spirit into the proceedings, even creating a Seuss version of spokescharacter Professor Burke (played by Academy Award winner JK Simmons). 

“At Farmers, we wanted to recognize the witty and whimsical world of Dr. Seuss and celebrate our long-standing support of learning and education,” says Leesa Eichberger, head of brand marketing at Farmers Insurance. “We especially like how Dr. Seuss’ delightful and unexpected storytelling complements our unbelievable-but-true ‘We Know From Experience’ campaign, allowing us to share in his whimsical world in an authentic way.”

The campaign also features an animated read-along of Seuss’s best-seller Oh, the Places You’ll Go!—voiced by Simmons. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was published in 1990, the year before Geisel’s death, and has became an iconic gift for graduating students. 

Perrin Anderson, creative director at RPA, tells The Drum that the agency worked with U.K. animation studio Passion and Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring the claims spot to life. They even had access to Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ digital library, so they didn’t have to create the world from scratch.