![\"\"](\"\/com\/files\/2023\/02\/comtalk-progressive-sullivan-inside.jpg\")
\u201cIt all started with what we call the \u2018parentamorphosis\u2019 campaign. We figured out a strategy around this grownup shift that happens when you buy a house, and how you turn into your parents,\u201d says Sullivan, now a senior vice president and group creative director at Arnold. The early parentamorphosis commercials were documentary-style spots featuring couples discussing how they\u2019ve started becoming their parents since buying a house. In one ad, for example, a man exhibits signs of turning into his mother when he vacuums up invisible crumbs around his wife\u2019s feet as she stands at their kitchen island eating a slice of pizza. \u201cThat whole idea felt really relatable. It felt like a common path people find themselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, Sullivan and his colleagues wanted to test out a different format from documentary-style ads and that\u2019s when they came up with the idea of a support group for people who are turning into their fathers. They cast Bill Glass as the group leader, Rick (there was no \u201cDr.\u201d yet), and put him in a sweater that would make Mr. Rogers proud. \u201cHis improv, and the way he owned that character with that sort of faux guru vibe was amazing,\u201d Sullivan says. \u201cThere was so much comedy just beneath the surface, but the exterior was such a perfect blend of sincerity and also the tropes of that vanity doctor thing\u2014there was a Dr. Phil element. He was really magnetic and extremely funny. He had something special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paging Dr. Rick<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Many TV commercials are merely tolerated\u2014if not skipped through\u2014by viewers. Progressive\u2019s Flo and Dr. Rick, by contrast, have devoted fan bases<\/a>\u2014and have even inspired merchandise<\/a>, including a 119-page self-help book, Dr. Rick Will See You Now: A Guide to Un-Becoming Your Parents<\/em><\/a> <\/em>(Eleven Letter Press, 2021), which Sullivan and his team created. Yet they originally hadn\u2019t planned on producing a second Rick ad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After creating a few more of the documentary-style ads, Sullivan says, the format started to become limiting. Around that time, Progressive also expressed an interest in expanding their character network, in the vein of Flo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen the client said that, we all knew exactly who that next character should be,\u201d says Sullivan. Dr. Rick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They got to work on a new series of ads, introducing the character as a \u201cparenta-life coach.\u201d The spots feature him helping out groups and individuals. He calmly questions their use of paper boarding passes at the airport<\/a>, speaker phone in the middle of a store<\/a>, their chatting up strangers in elevators<\/a> and their excessive collection of throw pillows<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sullivan, who previously worked at New York ad agencies Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners and Saatchi & Saatchi, says he is on set at every shoot and thrives on the creative camaraderie of his job. On each shoot he is \u201ctied at the hip\u201d with the director, and he and his creative partner Gregg Nelson are constantly whispering ideas and lines to each other. \u201cIt\u2019s very much an improv environment,\u201d Sullivan says. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten very close with Bill Glass, so we\u2019ll talk through things and we\u2019ll work things out. Being on set is a big deal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting to be creative through his work was something that was important to Sullivan, who had been in rock bands with his brother since middle school. \u201cFor a while, I was genuinely determined to be a rock star.\u201d Shortly after Sullivan graduated from BU and was working at his first advertising job, their band, Sean Bones, scored a record deal. His brother Sean was the band\u2019s frontman and Sullivan played the bass. Sullivan was granted a leave of absence from the ad agency and they went on a nationwide tour. \u201cWe got to open for and be on the road with some really great bands,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when I came back to reality from all that, I was like, \u2018I think I\u2019ve had my fill.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo much about my time at Arnold has been about really understanding the craft and every detail of the process [of creating an ad],\u201d says Sullivan. \u201cIt\u2019s way more than just having a good idea\u2014it\u2019s also about crafting it and executing it perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2022, Sullivan and Gregg Nelson were named to AdWeek<\/em>\u2019s Creative 100 list, which honors top talent in the advertising and marketing industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comedy already is a hard enough universe\u2014you have to earn laughs. We have to be really critical and be really hyper aware in measuring every detail of the execution, so that we\u2019re truly earning a laugh and doing something that feels like an authentic take on the real world.<\/p> <\/p>Mike Sullivan<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Besides the Dr. Rick campaign, which has included 18 commercials, with more in the works, Sullivan\u2019s other work for Progressive includes two tie-ins to the company\u2019s partnership with the NFL\u2014the \u201cAt Home with Baker Mayfield\u201d campaign, in which the quarterback treated the Cleveland Browns\u2019 stadium like his home (the ads have ceased after Mayfield was traded from the Browns in 2022) and the newer \u201cReplay\u201d series<\/a>, which feature people throwing challenge flags in daily life arguments to get a replay and settle those disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In each ad, Sullivan tries to strike the right comedic tone for the company. \u201cComedy already is a hard enough universe\u2014you have to earn laughs. We have to be really critical and be really hyper aware in measuring every detail of the execution, so that we\u2019re truly earning a laugh and doing something that feels like an authentic take on the real world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n That approach also serves him well with other clients. For Monster.com, he helped create a series of comedic commercials that address how workplace values have changed during the pandemic\u2014and how Monster.com is there to help people find a job that reflects those new values. To convey this they depicted workplace scenarios that were commonplace prepandemic\u2014commuting<\/a> and getting a boss\u2019 coffee<\/a>\u2014in a medieval setting to emphasize how outdated they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was about visualizing the world of work that might feel so ancient, and we felt like there were a lot of these fun parallels that we could do to give a pretty high concept some funny arresting visuals. What if it\u2019s a guy in chainmail commuting to work on a horse and carriage or what if this young worker is milking a goat to get milk for somebody\u2019s fancy coffee?,\u201d Sullivan says. \u201cMonster has this brand DNA for being irreverent, fun and rebellious from their historic Super Bowl work years ago, and I think that\u2019s a really hard thing for brands to do.\u201d He adds that, with any ad he works on, he strives to stay relevant and react to what\u2019s happening in larger culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo me, success in advertising isn\u2019t just about winning at awards shows,\u201d Sullivan says. \u201cWhile those are great, it\u2019s really about tapping into culture and earning the brand a way into the conversation. I think Dr. Rick was a Jeopardy!<\/em> question not long ago\u2014that\u2019s an incredibly rewarding nod from culture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Mike Sullivan joined Arnold Worldwide as an associate creative director in 2015, he was tasked with coming up with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":35283,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[34,962],"tags":[1606],"bu-publication":[],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/35253"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1654"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/35253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35729,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/35253\/revisions\/35729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35253"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=35253"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=35253"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=35253"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=35253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Reward of a Well-Earned Laugh<\/h3>\n\n\n\n