The story behind the good hands —
The tagline "You're in good hands®" has been at the heart of our identity for 70 years. Today we are as passionate as ever about creating a society where customers feel protected from life's uncertainties.
Sears executives create Allstate insurance, 1931
Circle of protection ad, 1953
Allstate agent booth, 1970s
Allstate's first auto insurance customer, 1931
Early milestones in Allstate's history —
Allstate launched on April 17, 1931, as the Great Depression intensified and Americans struggled with financial insecurity. The first policy insured a 1930 Studebaker at $41.60 for the year. The first claim was paid when a customer walked into Allstate's one-room headquarters holding a door handle that had been pried off by a would-be car thief.
By the end of 1931, Allstate had 4,217 active car insurance policies. There were 113,427 customers at the end of that decade.
Even in those early days, Allstate helped customers no matter where they lived or what kind of car they drove. Allstate was initially a mail-order company, like its parent, Sears, with its famous catalogs. The first Allstate agent debuted with a card table in the Sears Roebuck booth at the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago. A year later, agents began working out of the rapidly growing number of Sears department stores across the United States.
Davis Ellis, vice president and general sales manager, 1957
Davis Ellis helped develop Allstate's slogan, "You're in good hands."
Mail-order auto insurance, Sears catalog, 1932
Allstate's first ads appeared in Sears catalogs with "fill out and mail now" coupons.
The Good Hands® promise —
In 1950, 18-year-old Joan Ellis got sick and was hospitalized just before her high school graduation. The doctor told her parents not to worry. "You're in good hands," he told them. Sure enough, Joan recovered soon after.
Her father, Davis Ellis, a vice president and general sales manager at Allstate, was on a committee to create a new marketing slogan for the company.
As the team brainstormed, Davis recalled how that doctor's words helped relieve his family's stress. He decided that was how Allstate customers should feel after a car accident or house fire – like an expert had arrived to make things OK.
Ever since, the Good Hands promise has been at the heart of Allstate's advertising. Employees and agents still use that phrase as a reminder of their commitment to keeping customers well protected from life's uncertainties.
Allstate booth at a county fair, 1930s
Brake reaction testing, 1953
Charity children's gift collection, 1965
Driving simulators and driver education, 1950s-60s
Early innovation in corporate giving —
By the 1950s, Allstate was nearly doubling in size every two years and thinking about how to use its growing influence to create a safer world. This led to the creation of The Allstate Foundation in 1952.
The focus on building a better society would define Allstate's commitment to corporate responsibility. The 1954 annual report said, "Leadership in business carries with it a basic obligation to exemplify good citizenship."
Throughout the 1950s and '60s, The Allstate Foundation – one of the first corporate foundations in the country – offered driver training course scholarships for high school and college students.
Community-based giving became a hallmark of The Allstate Foundation – and it still is. In the 1970s, the Foundation provided scholarships for disadvantaged residents to train as nurses. In the '80s, the Foundation started funding Neighborhood Housing Services to offer financial assistance to people living in worn-down neighborhoods across the United States.
"Allstate's activities in the area of corporate social responsibility and change must be intensified," Chairman of the Board Arch Boe said in 1977.
"As a company and as an industry, we have accomplished much. But in the future, society will expect substantially more."
