Through our ongoing TV campaign, Dr. Rick has become Progressive’s most loved character, specifically among our young homeowner target audience. Dr. Rick maintains his relevance with this audience with 73% likeability and made Adage’s top 9 most popular insurance ad characters.

While Covid surged, 40% of young homeowners said they had read more books than usual. So, America’s favorite fake doctor met his audience where they were, authoring Dr. Rick Will See You Now. The book sold out and received rave reviews, including 4.5/5 stars on Amazon. So, in 2022, we re-launched the book, but this time with an audiobook version, too. The mash-up of audiobooks growing in popularity over the last few years and 30% of our target audience being listeners made this the perfect next endeavor. Now, suffers everywhere have easy listening access to Dr. Rick’s bite-sized tips. And Progressive quite literally has a bug in their ear.

Dr. Rick is a Parenta-Life Coach. His very niche job is to help young homeowners everywhere stop turning into their parents when they buy their first home. It’s a condition called “Parentamorphosis” and it has become his life’s work. The character came to life initially through a TV campaign and our audience quickly became fans. They couldn’t get enough of Dr. Rick and even took to social demanding more. So, we (oops, we mean “Dr. Rick”) wrote a book. Dr. Rick Will See You Now is like a one- on-one session with Dr. Rick himself, filled with the strategies, exercises, self-assessments, and good old-fashioned advice young homeowners need to un-become their parents every single day. Both available in hardcopy and by popular demand, audiobook, suffers everywhere have the tool they need to overcome Parentamorphosis…in a format that’s best for them.

Our target audience is first-time homebuyers 25-44 with a sweet spot of 31 years old. They saw Progressive as an option that had been right for them when they were just starting out but viewed competitors like State Farm and Allstate as a more established, better fit for their more grown-up stage of life. One trend with this audience that has been working in our favor was the unprecedented rate people were (and are still) buying homes in suburbia. But others saw this audience as an opportunity too, which meant clutter. We needed to find a way to continue to ‘win’ with our young homeowner audience, who quickly took to Progressive’s Dr. Rick. We had to focus on ways outside of TV to cut through the clutter.

Dr. Rick is the world’s foremost expert in Parentamorphosis, a term used to describe young homeowners who start turning into their parents when they buy their first home. Through field work, seminars, and group sessions, Dr. Rick has helped young homeowners everywhere un-become their parents. But unfortunately, there’s only one Dr. Rick. And since he can only reach so many sufferers at once, he’s branched out into an unconquered medium – the audiobook. Dr. Rick Will See You Now is like a one-on-one session with the man himself, filled with the strategies, exercises, self-assessments, and bite-sized wisdoms that homeowners everywhere need to combat Parentamorphosis pitfalls every single day. From making small talk with tollbooth operators (don’t) to the dangerous lures of lawn care, this collection will have first-time homeowners covered for almost any situation. It’s Dr. Rick. In an audiobook.

With over 12,000 downloads, Dr. Rick Will See You Now was the most downloaded audio book from a brand in 2022.

Developing the Dr. Rick audiobook came from a need to continue to drive relevance, popularity, and interest in our campaign character and brand among an evolving audience. In addition to driving positive sentiment for Progressive, the audiobook received rave reviews garnering 4.8 out of 5 stars on Audible.