State Farm’s ‘National Assists Bureau’ Utility Helps NYC All-Star Fans

The NBA’s official insurance partner State Farm activated around the All-Star Weekend with a fascinating social media and digital campaign that actually assisted New York All-Star Weekend attendees.

The brand continued its ongoing ‘National Bureau Of Assists’ initiative (a play on the word ‘assists’ – which in basketball refers to a pass that leads to a basket) by working with agency Translation to set up a social media command centre inside the event’s NBA House( at Moynihan Station).

The centre then launched the Twitter handle @SFNBA (which took over the campaign’s previous @cliffpaul handle) through which offered to assist All-Star attendees on all sorts of topics and challenges.

To get an ‘assist’, All-Star attendees, basketball fans or just local New Yorkers simply had to send a tweet using the hashtag #AllStarAssist.

#AllStarAssist" Please get me out of this cold weather inside to @NBAHouse Manhattan

— Fred Moreno (@MSGblueseats) February 15, 2015

All requests to the account were addressed with either a ‘digital’ or a ‘physical’ assist.

In some cases that meant NBA tickets,

Hey @ConnorPrintz, if you head over to @NBAHouse Manhattan today you can pick up some free tickets! #AllStarAssist

— Cliff Paul (@CliffPaul) February 15, 2015

while in others it was public transport advice and even advising on the number of songs Ariana Grande would sing at the opening ceremony.

The brand even delivered a hat in response to a tweet from an NBA fan waiting outside in the cold.

This social activation strand is a real-life extension of State Farm’s three-year-old ‘National Bureau of Assists’ initiative which has been led by spoof commercials fronted by elite NBA point guards (known for their ‘assists) Chris Paul, John Stockton, Sue Bird, Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry.

In the spots these ballers all play their non-athletic ‘twin’ brothers who help consumers through mishaps off the court.

The most recent TV spot in the campaign rolled out in late December and featured Chris Paul’s twin brother Cliff Paul.

The star players in the ads also promoted the All-Star campaign on their own Twitter feeds.

For example, LA Clippers point guard Chris Paul’s parody twin Cliff Paul’s twitter account was rebranded @SFNBA and through it he offered to ‘assist’ people in New York at the All-Star Weekend was held.

Lost in the #BigApple? The City Assister Team will be helping all week! Tweet @SFNBA using #AllStarAssist. http://t.co/0uE4su8BEJ

— Cliff Paul (@CliffPaul) February 14, 2015

Other NBA stars and influencers – such as John Wall,

What up NYC? Almost time for #StateFarmSaturday on 2/14. Questions or need directions at All-Star? Use #AllStarAssist & @SFNBA will assist

— John Wall (@JohnWall) February 9, 2015

Chris Bosh and Anthony Davis – also joined the campaign on Twitter and helped generate momentum and reach.

@CliffPaul dish me one of them argyle sweaters! #AllStarAssist #worntoassist

— Anthony Davis (@AntDavis23) February 15, 2015

ESPN’s sports business analyst Darren Rovell even commended State Farm’s integration.

The league’s official @NBA handle also tweeted out a clip to promote the initiative that helped it trend nationally.

.@spurs center @tiagosplitter checking out the @SFNBA #AllStarAssist Center in #NBAHouse! pic.twitter.com/69dUdEVjZM

— NBAHouse (@NBAHouse) February 14, 2015

Furthermore, the real-life All-Star State Farm assist squad were all dressed to match the players in the ad.

‘As such, everyone was outfitted in argyle, lab coats and red glasses just like our SFNBA members are in our TV Spots,’ explains Casey Savio (senior digital and social media strategy at Translation).

‘We even had a lounge and charging station with argyle pillows so that people could relax after they were done assisting or get recharged.’

Indeed, the whole #AllStarAssist Centre itself was built to look like the State Farm National Bureau of Assists from the commercial.

This branded space was constructed with clear panels so that fans could actually watch as the five-strong assist team helped people out in real-time.

The centre also had six giant screens showing a campaign hashtag counter and a rolling tracker of the real-time conversations people were having with the @SFNBA handle.

As well as the staff manning the centre itself, a further 175 State Farm City Assisters were on ground in the streets of New York helping people all over the city: delivering CP3 shoes, promotional merchandise and warm clothes to help fight the NYC weather.

We are getting ready for the @NBAAllStar game! Check out the @StateFarm #DoubleDecker #AllStarAssist #NBAAllStarNYC pic.twitter.com/10KkpkkJ5R

— Vector Media (@VectorMedia) February 9, 2015

The campaign also includes a ‘National Bureau Of Assists’ behind-the-scenes YouTube film exploring how the commercials were made.

‘If you think about one of our main marketing objectives and our brand mission, it is the idea that State Farm is here to help,’ outlines State Farm marketing director of branded content Patty Morris.

‘The campaign that we run specifically for the NBA is all about bringing out the parallels between assisting both on the court and off the court. So All-Star Weekend was the perfect opportunity to put that into action.’

Comments

Like Sprint’s All-Star initiative, this campaign was a seamless blend of social and physical activation that dovetailed with an ongoing ad campaign.

Both activations used a big property event to link integrated campaigns to ambassador personalities and thus create a more personal feel (one that doesn’t seem obtrusive).

How did this ambitious approach perform?

Well, the metrics are complicated and it’s hard to judge which measurements are the most important ones to judge it by.

There were more than 3,623 mentions of #AllstarAssist on Twitter and more than 5,000 total engagements.

While several hundred people were ‘assisted’ – either digitally and physically.

Real-time tweeting around Stephen Curry’s All-Star 3-Point Contest win drove the most @SFNBA traffic

And, yes, after @SFNBA’s 250 All-Star tweets, the handle has now once again reverted to @cliffpaul.

Links:

State Farm YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/statefarm

State Farm Facebook:
www.facebook.com/statefarm

State Farm Twitter:

www.twitter.com/statefarm