By Heather Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, PopIcon
Could you impressively parallel park in front of Mayhem, the iconic Allstate spokesperson? Even the most confident parallel parking pro would feel some pressure getting it right.
In a new brand activation between ‘SNL’ and Allstate celebrating the variety show’s 50th anniversary season, resident comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy (Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy) are sweating bullets as they try to look cool parallel parking into a tight spot on the street.
“Parallel Parking”
Mayhem isn’t alone. He informs PDD that he’s actually a cool eighth grader and is surrounded by four other eighth graders. Everyone slurps from a jumbo cup and watches as the guys struggle to ace parallel parking.
As the kids laugh and declare that PDD has “zero rizz,” PDD takes action. Kind of. The resident driver, Higgins, attempts a comeback response, but clams up at the last second.
Things go from bad to worse when Marshall takes the wheel. He hits the cars in front and behind them. Maybe Martin can save the day? (Nope, he’s already exited the backseat and is running away.)
Insisting that the third time is the charm, Marshall takes the wheel once more and hits a fire hydrant. The commercial ends with Mayhem advising audiences to get Allstate so they can be protected from mayhem like himself and his new cluster of friends.
If you attended Advertising Week New York 2024, you got a first look into this collaboration.
The crossover was teased during the “SNL50: How NBCUniversal is Transforming Brand Storytelling Through Live Tentpole Events” panel. When choosing partners, brands with the “right tone” were key according to Mark Marshall, Chairman, Global Advertising & Partnerships at NBCUniversal.
The PDD guys were such spectacularly bad parallel parkers that we feel like an encore collab is necessary to give them a shot at redemption. Maybe in this hypothetical follow-up, another insurance icon like the GEICO Gecko coaches PDD into parallel parking success only for Mayhem’s back to turn and miss it at the last minute. (Or is that too many characters in the activation? We’re spitballing here.)
About the Author
Heather Taylor is the senior writer and editor-in-chief of PopIcon, Advertising Week’s blog about brand mascots. Got a pitch on brand mascots or want to wax nostalgic about characters? Drop her a line at howveryheather@gmail.com.
