Make Safe Happen - Dimensionality Alteration Template: Time Leap Version

The above advertisement was shown during the Superbowl by Nationwide insurance in an attempt to prove the importance of insurance. The advertisement depicts a young boy who attempts to be a normal kid and experience life like his friends. However, at the end of the advertisement we learn that he cannot experience the same life as his friends because he has passed away in an accident.

According to Goldenburg, Mazursky and Solomon (1999), this is an example of the Dimensionality Alteration Template: Time Leap Version. In this template, the advertiser is supposed to present an every day situation, and the impact is made by changing the scenario into one that occurred in the past or future. An operator is then introduced to link the two sets to the product.

The product is Nationwide Insurance and the message is the safety of the children. In this template as well as in this advertisement, there are two sets, a set of episodes which shows the child attempting to ride a bike with his friends, getting cooties, etc., and a time set in which we realize that those are all events he could have accomplished in the past. After the audience becomes aware that the child has passed away, what Goldenburg, Mazursky. and Solomon (1999) refer to as the "operator" links the story to Nationwide, explaining that they believe in protecting what matters most; your children. The operator then addresses the audience and says that together, they can make safe happen.

Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D. et al. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing Science, 333-351.