Dr. Rick is a fictional character appearing in advertisements for

Progressive Corporation The Progressive Corporation is an American insurance company. Progressive is currently the #2 auto insurer in the United States behind State Farm. The company was co-founded in 1937 by Jack Green and Joseph M. Lewis, and is headquartered in Ma ...

insurance. The character, portrayed by Bill Glass, is a

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is "a focus on self-guided, in contrast to professionally guided, efforts to cope with life problems" —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When ...

coach who helps new homeowners keep from "turning into" their parents.

Concept and creation

In 2015, the chief marketing officer of Progressive Corporation, Jeff Charney, began searching for ideas for a new advertising campaign that would revolve around the "stages of life". Charney eventually decided to use the idea of parental

introjection In psychology, introjection (also known as identification or internalization) is the Unconscious mind, unconscious adoption of the thoughts or personality traits of others. It occurs as a normal part of development, such as a child taking on Par ...

. After consulting with

psychologists A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how ...

, Charney and his team found that people tend to experience this phenomenon after buying their first home. Initially,

Arnold Worldwide Arnold Worldwide is an American advertising agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The agency is a part of the Havas Creative Group, a global advertising holding company based in France. Some of Arnold’s clients include Progressive Insu ...

created a series of advertisements that revolved around "parentamorphosis", a portmanteau of "parent" and "metamorphosis". The advertising firm created Dr. Rick for a 2017 "parentamorphosis" advertisement where he was identified as "Rick". The campaign soon evolved to feature Dr. Rick as its central character.

Appearances

Dr. Rick, who is portrayed by actor Bill Glass, has appeared in 18 commercials for Progressive. In 2021, Progressive released a book titled ''Dr. Rick Will See You Now''. The book, which was advertised as being authored by Dr. Rick, is a comedic guide containing the character's teachings. Progressive has published five thousand copies of the 119-page book.

Reception

According to a 2022 poll by ''

Ad Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

'' and

The Harris Poll The Harris Poll is an American market research and analytics company that has been tracking the sentiment, behaviors and motivations of American adults since 1963. In addition to the traditional consulting offered, Harris has developed software ...

, Dr. Rick has a 59% favorability rating and a 54% awareness rating, making him the seventh-most popular insurance advertisement character in the United States. The Dr. Rick commercials have received praise for their relatability.

Barbara Mellers Barbara Ann Mellers is the I. George Heyman University Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on decision processes. In 2017, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government awarded Mellers the Th ...

, a

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

professor at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, also noted that the campaign's simplicity and surprise factor are what makes the character successful: "I think we all experience it, but I don’t know how much has been written on it or how broad a topic it is in the general conversation of life." According to ''Ad Age'', viewers respond well to the character's dry humor.

References

{{Reflist Male characters in advertising Progressive Corporation