I've recently seen a great deal of Liberty Mutual's new commercials around accident forgiveness and new car replacement. They have a number of these commercials where a Liberty Mutual customer tells a story about their accident in front of the Statue of Liberty.

These commercials, though, are a little lackluster and bring no specific affinity toward Liberty Mutual or their brand. I think the lackluster performance of these commercials is a perfect way to demonstrate the power of visualization in advertising. Below you can see one of these recent commercials:

The story is compelling and does portray Liberty Mutual's "competitive advantage" they are looking to communicate, but I feel it falls very short of the mark. What Liberty Mutual needs to do is provide more visualization and make the viewer more empathetic. I need to actually feel and understand the pain of totaling my car, and watching someone talk about it in front of the Statue of Liberty doesn't quite do that.

Compare Liberty Mutual's commercial to the Allstate Mayhem campaign:

This is a perfect example of the power of visualization and empathy in advertising. You can really empathize and feel the pain of losing your car due to an accident or mistake. Even just seeing the lady stand next to the "3-wheeled car" in Liberty Mutual commercial would have done the job. It's that simple.

Keep that in mind the next time you are trying to communicate something to an audience. Understand the importance of visualization and empathy and use it to your advantage.