The coveted Brand Genius award for 2011, formerly known as the Marketer of the Year award, presented by Adweek, has been given to the chief marketing officer of Progressive Insurance, Jeff Charney.
The marketing and advertising industry trade publication names the winner of the award based on honoring the “brands that shape our culture and the individuals who catapult them to success.”
After being named for the award, Charney said that he was honored to be able to accept it on behalf of the entire company, and was pleased that the brand has been acknowledged in the same category as some of the top brands worldwide.
He added that when he has a look at the overall accomplishments of the entire Progressive team, there is a great deal that makes him feel pride, not only for 2011, but also for the previous years under the marketing team and the company’s CEO, Glenn Renwick.
He recognizes how competitive the environment is for marketing in the insurance industry, and explained that Progressive is successful as a result of their development of compelling, rich content and characters that maintain a freshness and relevancy for their brand through its integration across all channels of media.
There were a number of points considered by Adweek as they made their choice for the award this year. Robert Klara, from the company, explained that Charney’s leads a team of individuals who are clearly very talented, including the creator of Flo, Arnold Worldwide. Though the Flo character has been in existence since 2008, it wasn’t until this last year that marketing with her truly blossomed.
