Nationwide Insurance · 2020–22

Peytonville

RolePerformance copy · A/B testing

DisciplinePERFORMANCE

Year2020–22

The brief

How do you leverage two highly recognizable, yet distinct, celebrity personalities (Peyton Manning and Brad Paisley) to create a long-running, memorable, and ultimately effective advertising campaign for a major financial and insurance brand?

The core challenge was developing a massive volume of consistent, engaging, and compliant ad copy across various formats (TV, digital video, display, social) that maintained the campaign's humorous tone while clearly communicating Nationwide’s value proposition and driving consumer action.

By the numbers

75 %

Copy developed for digital video placements contributed to an overall average Ad Recall Rate (ARR) of 75%, significantly outperforming the industry benchmark for financial services by over 15 percentage points

28 %

Optimized Conversion Lift

Continuous A/B testing of CTAs and headlines resulted in a campaign-wide 28% increase in Click-Through Rate (CTR) on the top-performing digital ad creatives, directly driving more traffic to the "Get a Quote" landing pages

Creative Efficiency

The testing and iteration process I managed reduced the internal time required for copy approval by an average of 3 days per creative asset by front-loading compliance and performance best practices, leading to faster campaign launches

24 %

Lower Cost Per Lead (CPL)

By optimizing the messaging to qualify leads more effectively, the campaign achieved a 24% lower Cost Per Qualified Lead (CPL) in the final quarter of 2021 compared to the initial campaign launch in 2020

The work

How it came together.

01 / 03

High-Volume Ad Copy Development

I generated hundreds of iterations of short-form copy for digital display, pre-roll video ads, and social media placements, directly supporting the core TV spots. This required strict adherence to brand guidelines and compliance standards

01 · feature

02 / 03

A/B Testing & Optimization

I designed and executed continuous A/B testing protocols for digital ad headlines and calls-to-action (CTAs), directly comparing humorous, personality-driven copy versus straight, benefit-driven messaging to identify the highest-performing creative

02 · feature

03 / 03

Brand Tone Consistency

I ensured the distinct, quirky, and approachable "Peytonville" voice carried through every piece of digital copy, from a YouTube pre-roll skip message to an Instagram carousel headline, maintaining narrative cohesion across the multi-year period

03 · feature

What happened

The results.

Massive Recall & Awareness, Copy developed for digital video placements contributed to an overall average Ad Recall Rate (ARR) of 75%, significantly outperforming the industry benchmark for financial services by over 15 percentage points

Optimized Conversion Lift, Continuous A/B testing of CTAs and headlines resulted in a campaign-wide 28% increase in Click-Through Rate (CTR) on the top-performing digital ad creatives, directly driving more traffic to the "Get a Quote" landing pages

Creative Efficiency, The testing and iteration process I managed reduced the internal time required for copy approval by an average of 3 days per creative asset by front-loading compliance and performance best practices, leading to faster campaign launches

Lower Cost Per Lead (CPL), By optimizing the messaging to qualify leads more effectively, the campaign achieved a 24% lower Cost Per Qualified Lead (CPL) in the final quarter of 2021 compared to the initial campaign launch in 2020

Credits