In what promises to be a small-screen franchise crossover like no other, Please Don’t Destroy are set to make mayhem with, well, “Mayhem” of Allstate fame in an upcoming branded SNL short.
NBCUniversal revealed the partnership at an Advertising Week New York panel where the company discussed its ad strategy for the 50th season of Saturday Night Live, explaining that because they’d received so much interest from advertisers, they were able to pick and choose brands who wouldn’t be threatened by SNL’s comedic sensibility.
As one of SNL’s key sponsors announced earlier this year, Allstate was one of the anchor sponsors game to join the Saturday Night Live playpen. Dave Marsey, SVP of Media & Growth Marketing at Allstate, called the partnership “a big leap” for the brand, but one that they were eager to take, in part because they saw synergies between Please Don’t Destroy and Allstate’s existing brand ethos.
Explaining that PDD sketches involve “entertaining chaos” with “low stakes [that] get resolved by the end,” Marsey noted that Allstate’s Mayhem character lives in the same space. The character, who has been played by actor Dean Winters since 2010, illustrates catastrophic scenarios that can occur when someone doesn’t have insurance.
While no other specifics were offered on the PDD/Allstate team-up, the exec promised that it would be seen “soon.”
Please Don’t Destroy consists of SNL writers Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy, and John Higgins, who regularly contribute their own branded shorts to the show. They joined SNL at the start of Season 47 in 2021.
While new content from the PDD boys hasn’t yet turned up on the new season of SNL, the group has been churning out spon-con quite a bit recently. The trio premiered a collab with Dunkin’ in June, and dropped a followup in August. Outside of the group, Ben Marshall also appeared in an ad for Away luggage.