Progressive’s Dr. Rick Capmaign: B2B Marketing Lessons on the Serious Business of Being Funny with Chief Marketing Officer at Attentive, Keri McGhee

Turning into your parents might be your worst fear, or your biggest marketing opportunity.

That’s the brilliance of Progressive’s Dr. Rick campaign. It’s hilarious, deeply relatable, and sneakily strategic. In this episode, we explore the marketing lessons behind it with special guest Keri McGhee, Chief Marketing Officer at Attentive.

Together, we explore what B2B marketers can learn from character-driven storytelling, embracing creative risk, and using humor and relatability to create campaigns that people actually want to talk about.

About our guest, Keri McGhee

Keri McGhee is the CMO at Attentive, the AI marketing platform for leading brands. She leads strategic global marketing to further build the Attentive brand, overseeing product marketing, revenue marketing, events, partner marketing, communications and content, and brand creative. Keri's past experiences include leading marketing at various start-ups and as a senior director at Zillow, where she led the B2B marketing team of 60+ people, responsible for strengthening partner loyalty and experience for 60,000+ real estate partners. She got her start in tech at Expedia, leading both consumer and corporate travel marketing teams.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Progressive’s Dr. Rick Campaign:

• Take creative risks. Keri’s central message is clear: great brand moments come from taking chances. “We take ourselves way too seriously in B2B.  So I think my advice is to step outside of the comfort zone of what the CFO, and the COO, and the CEO say yes to. And do the work to get the customer validation to pitch in some new idea..” B2B marketers often play it safe, focusing on product features, ROI charts, or thought leadership. But real differentiation happens when you create something unexpected, emotional, or funny. The Dr. Rick campaign could’ve flopped. Instead, it became a cultural reference point.
• Make your audience feel seen. The best ads are mirrors, not megaphones. Progressive tapped into a deep, relatable insecurity, “Am I becoming my parents?” Keri shares, “It's incredibly memorable, which I think is the most important thing in marketing right now.” For B2B, this could mean identifying moments of self-doubt, imposter syndrome, or job-related stress and playfully reflecting those back to the buyer.
• Build a fictional persona. A single viral hit is fleeting. A character-driven series builds long-term brand equity. Dr. Rick works because he’s a consistent, evolving character. He became a franchise. Most B2B brands invest in one-off videos or campaigns. But serialization keeps audiences coming back, like a show you binge-watch. Keri states, “  I can't think of any B2B that actually has been able to do that…Most of the true B2B play companies are not investing in brand in that way.”

Quotes

“What we find with B2B buyers is they make decisions as people, not as the companies for which they're spending money for. We undervalue that a lot in B2B marketing…And the reality is, the things that are impossible to measure are where we are starting to place bigger bets because it's the only way to drive differentiation.”

Time Stamps

[00:55] Meet Keri McGhee, Chief Marketing Officer at Katalon

[01:06] Why Dr. Rick?

[02:45] The Psychology of Being Seen

[04:02] Who Is Dr. Rick?

[11:26] Branding in a Commoditized Industry

[13:59] Flow vs. Dr. Rick: A Franchise Strategy

[15:26] Why B2B Doesn’t Do This

[22:14] Parents vs. Homeowners

[26:35] Keri’s Top B2B Takeaway

[28:30] Creating Content Around Insecurity

[31:20] Why Brands Don’t Take Risks

[40:56] Final Thoughts & Takeaways

Links

Connect with Keri on LinkedIn

Learn more about Attentive

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Jess Avellino, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

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