Over the past decade, the amount of money spent on insurance advertising has ballooned from $1.6 billion to more than $5 billion. As a result of this increased spending, television commercials for auto insurance have become more pervasive and seem to have taken over the airwaves. As Jeff Charney, the chief marketing officer for Progressive put it, “It's an arms race, and the ones with the best content will win.”

Not counting the American Family Insurance spot that aired after the game was already over, MetLife was the lone insurance company willing to shell out the estimated $3.5 million for a 30 second ad during yesterday’s Super Bowl. In addition to the usual Peanuts crew (a MetLife advertising staple since 1985), the commercial also featured an impressive cast of well-known cartoon characters including He-Man, Mr. Magoo, Scooby Doo and the gang, The Jetsons, and countless others. 

Maxwell the pig has come back with a vengeance, and the Geico spokespig that first squealed his way into America’s hearts back in 2010 continues to be just as polarizing as ever. Unlike his more prolific Gecko counterpart, Maxwell the pig has only appeared in two commercials, the second of which premiered a little over a month ago and features the pin wheel toting pig on a zip-line promoting the new Geico mobile app.

According to Ace Metrix, a California based company that monitors ad performance, the top rated insurance ad of 2011 was State Farm’s September 11^th Tribute that featured a group of children singing to New York firefighters. The extremely subtle ad ran over the weekend of September 11^th and didn’t feature any mention of State Farm until the very end of the commercial. 

The early 90s Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog has officially partnered with Progressive’s overly enthusiastic Flo to create an unstoppable pitchperson/hedgehog team. The recent commercial from Progressive showcases the typically speedy Sonic barreling around in a carefree fashion before Flo interrupts and drops some insurance savings knowledge on him. And, despite having no legitimate need for auto insurance (after all, he runs faster than the speed of sound), Sonic seems pretty excited about what Flo has to say.