Progressive Insurance Puts a Spotlight on "Parentamorphosis," a Condition Impacting Americans this Holiday Season

MAYFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio, Nov. 21, 2016

Progressive worked with mental health experts and researchers and has uncovered just how common it is to feel stress associated with first time home ownership and for young people to exhibit behaviors they learned from their own parents. It can be amusing, reassuring, or even alarming.

"Generally, people find themselves starting to 'become' their parents when breaking new ground in their lives," said Nathan Feiles, LCSW, a mental health expert from San Diego who has extensive experience in this area and has written on the subject. "With little experience of our own in certain areas, we do what we've seen our parents do. This doesn't necessarily happen consciously, or by choice – it just happens."

A new campaign from Progressive seeks to reassure young homeowners with a humorous look at what it's like to "become our parents" in a transformation the company calls Parentamorphosis.

To help young homeowners understand they're not alone, Progressive presents the Top Ten Signs you Might be Experiencing Parentamorphosis This Holiday Season:

1. Trying to find the strand of lights that contains the dead bulb is a time consuming priority that you can't ignore.
2. You reenact holiday rituals from childhood in your new home, and play the roles your parents used to play.
3. As you transition from guest to host, you find yourself offering many of the same food and drink options you grew up with. You're even serving things you hated growing up (deviled eggs, pimento cheese, or canned cranberries, anyone?)
4. You're pulling out proper serving platters and carefully paying attention to presentation instead of plopping a bag of chips and a container of dip on the counter.
5. You stress about where the silverware goes – do the forks go on the left or the right?
6. A nice centerpiece or bottle of wine is a preferred host/hostess gift, a step up from your friends' typical six-pack of beer or bottle of tequila.
7. You take your guests' coats and place them on the master bedroom bed rather than draping them over the nearest sofa.
8. Water or dirt tracked in by your guests sends you into a cleaning frenzy.
9. You disappear to do dishes while your guests relax. It's less about having fun yourself, and more about how to give your loved ones a great holiday experience.
10. Despite the stress, you feel a sense of accomplishment. It might feel weird, but you're proud of yourself for being a great host.

Progressive is carrying the Parentamorphosis theme into a cutting-edge new marketing campaign created with renowned director, Roman Coppola and agency Arnold Worldwide.

"This is a campaign based on the insight that eventually, we all discover ourselves acting like our parents, even doing things we never thought we'd do," said Jeff Charney, CMO of Progressive. "It's a simple concept, but something we can all relate to. We discovered that when young people purchase their first home, the stress of this big new step can flip a switch and trigger what we're calling Parentamorphosis. And we thought this time of year, when many young homeowners are hosting their first holiday gatherings in a new house, was the perfect time to launch this campaign."