Eagle Insurance
Encyclopedia
Vehicle insurance
Vehicle insurance is insurance purchased for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise therefrom...
agency based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, which has been serving residents of the metropolitan area since 1961. It is best known for its unusual, low-budget television commercial
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
s featuring the egg-laying “Eagle Man,” an actor in a bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
.
Advertising
The first, and best known, of the Eagle Insurance television spots was created in 1993 by RDR Productions of Northbrook, IllinoisNorthbrook, Illinois
Northbrook is a village located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, which is also a North Shore suburb of Chicago. The population was 33,170 at the 2010 census....
. In the commercial, two young women are riding in an automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
when they suddenly hear a loud thud emanating from the roof of their car. Having no vehicle insurance, they realize they have been visited by Eagle Man, who speaks in a slow, deep voice and proclaims, “I’ve … got … something … for … you!” He then squats down and inexplicably lays an over-sized egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
, out of which hatches a hand puppet
Hand puppet
A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is controlled by the leg or face that occupies the interior of the puppet. Glove puppets are a variation of hand puppets...
. The chick presents a piece of paper listing Eagle’s vehicle insurance rates, and the women exclaim in unison, “Ohhh, look at those low rates.” An announcer then provides a detailed description of all of Eagle Insurance’s services.
The original version of the commercial quickly gained a cult-following in the Chicago area, and RDR responded with a series of equally unusual “sequels”. One sequel replaced Eagle Man with “Eagle Woman,” and featured a cameo by radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
personality Erich “Mancow” Muller
Mancow Muller
Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller is an American radio and television personality. He is best known for Mancow's Morning Madhouse, formerly on Rock 103.5 and WKQX-FM , both Chicago-based radio shows that have been nationally syndicated mostly in small markets by Talk Radio Network...
, a fan of the original spot. All of these advertisements have been dubbed in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. In addition, a radio advertisement featuring the “Eagle Man Rap
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
” aired in the Chicago area for several years. RDR most recently produced an updated version of the original television spot which incorporates CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
effects to portray Eagle Man’s frequently-mentioned egg-laying scene.
The Eagle Man commercials continue to incite discussion among Chicagoans. In 2002, they were honored with the “Fool of the Year” award at the grand opening of Chicago’s Noble Fool Theater, and references to the commercial frequently appear in Chicago newspapers and magazines. The commercials have even gained some fame outside of the Chicago area, having appeared on Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
, The Soup
The Soup
The Soup is an E! Entertainment Television weekly series; it is a revamped version of Talk Soup that focuses on recaps of various pop culture and television show moments of the week...
, in E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
's special called Wildest TV Commercial Moments, and in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
special about American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
. Maxim Online
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
also declared the spots as some of the "crappiest commercials ever" in 2007. In 2010, the commercial ranked 4th in worst commercials ever on The Smoking Gun and on March 1, 2011, the commercial was seen on ABC News' "Nightline in a segment titled "Slogans Gone Wrong" featured among numerous national brand tv campaigns long since forgotten. David Wechsler, the director and producer of the commercials, has said, “Obviously, we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. […] I have produced and directed some top flight projects for literally hundreds of clients, but among those who know me personally, I will always be associated with ‘I’ve got something for you!’”
See also
- Celozzi-Ettleson ChevroletCelozzi-Ettleson ChevroletCelozzi-Ettleson Chevrolet was a large Chevrolet dealership located in Elmhurst, Illinois. Once the #1 Chevy dealer in the country, it was owned by Nick Celozzi and Maury Ettleson and operated at the corner of York and Roosevelt Roads in this suburban Chicago city from February 1968 to October...
- Empire TodayEmpire TodayEmpire Today, LLC is a Northlake, Illinois-based home improvement and home furnishing company, specializing in installed carpet, flooring, and window treatments. The company operates in more than 45 major metropolitan areas in the United States, making it one of the leading providers of installed...
- Victory Auto WreckersVictory Auto WreckersVictory Auto Wreckers is an auto salvage yard in Bensenville, Illinois, near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. It is well-known in the Chicago area for its television commercial, in which a young man struggles with a car door that has just detached from its hinges...
- Moo & OinkMoo & OinkMoo & Oink was a South Side Chicago, Illinois-based grocery store chain and wholesaler that catered to the inner-city community and south suburbs...
- Peter Francis GeraciPeter Francis GeraciPeter Francis Geraci is a prominent Chicago-based bankruptcy attorney. His firm, Geraci Law LLC, is one of the largest personal bankruptcy practices in the United States with about 50 attorneys and 20 offices in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin....
- Harold's Chicken ShackHarold's Chicken ShackHarold's Chicken Shack is a chain of fried chicken restaurants located primarily in Chicago, particularly on its South Side. Harold's has been a Chicago South Side institution for many years and is known for its uniquely prepared chicken...
- Walter E. SmitheWalter E. SmitheWalter E. Smithe is a furniture company based in Itasca, Illinois. The company makes, sells, and repairs furniture, specializing in custom upholstery, and operates thirteen showrooms throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded by Walter E. Smithe and Bill Shanahan in 1945 and is...
External links
- http://www.theeagleman.com, Official website of Eagle Insurance
- Commercial profile at RDR Productions' official website
- Commercial on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....