For US sports fans Christmas Day means the NBA and league sponsor State Farm activates around the festive fixtures by unveiling a new basketball trip promotional campaign, a Yahoo Sports Promotion and commercial led by long-time baller endorser Chris Paul.
The tripartite activation is led by a spot starring the Los Angeles Clippers player, fellow athlete ambassador and teammate DeAndre Jordan and Portland Trailerblazer Damian Lillard.
The ad was initially teased socially with cut-down clips that rolled out a week ahead of the core commercial’s official launch.
The teaser phase ran across social media channels run by both the brand
Don’t let an offensive threat catch you off guard… pic.twitter.com/GWBKIO5uGi
— State Farm (@StateFarm) December 19, 2016
and the players.
Oh this is really foul. @StateFarm pic.twitter.com/uF9xa603rP
— Chris Paul (@CP3) December 19, 2016
Never thought I’d see (and smell) something this offensive, @statefarm. pic.twitter.com/qowCupZwzf
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) December 19, 2016
The full 30-second commercial, launched on 25 December for the Christmas games, juxtaposes Paul and Jordan on court ‘setting a trap [move]’ with the three athletes attempting to set a different kind of trap to catch skunks that have invaded one of their homes.
The stinky spot culminates with a nose-holding State Farm agent reassuring Paul he is insured for such smelly setbacks.
A voiceover says, “Talk to an agent for help combining your home and auto into a plan that’s right for you.”
The spot was also pushed across State Farm social channels such as Twitter,
When you run into an offensive threat, we’re #HereToHelp. pic.twitter.com/juE1fOjSmP
— State Farm (@StateFarm) December 27, 2016
Facebook,
and Instagram.
Paul’s New York-based agency Translation worked with State Farm and the Marketing Arm on the leverage campaign – which also includes three other spots: early December’s ‘Crash The Glass’,
late November’s ‘Fire’,
and ‘Trees’.
Christmas also saw the insurer run a new ‘Right Combination’ promotion: which enables fans to use their NBA trivia knowledge at TheRightCombination.com to try and win a trip to the NBA All-Star Weekend (in New Orleans on 18 February).
Launched on 25 December, basketball lovers can physically unlock lockers at four different on-site activations as well – marking the very first time that State Farm has done a physical/digital combination promotion of this kind.
Late December also saw State Farm activate around its NBA rights by partnering with Yahoo Sports on a new campaign that spans custom integrations, video, native and display advertising.
The insurer is sponsoring Yahoo’s sports hub ‘The Vertical with Woj’ – hosted by Adrian Wojnarowski (http://sports.yahoo.com/thevertical/).
‘There are parallels between basketball and insurance that we’ve highlighted for many years,’ explains State Farm director of brand content and development Patty Morris..
‘Basketball is just one way we connect with consumers.’
State Farm worked with the Marketing Arm on the new campaign.
‘Our goal is to shift the State Farm brand perception by engaging with NBA fans and showcasing that good things happen when you have the right combination,’ adds Brad Daca, VP of account services at Dallas-based agency.
Comment:
These three State Farm festive basketball initiatives are just a few of the now traditional NBA and partners Christmas promotional push: which in 2016 also included the league’s own ‘Dunktastic’ campaign (see case study) and broadcaster ESPN’s ‘Comissioner Claus’ work (see case study).
During 2016, State Farm’s ongoing NBA sponsorship work has been worked into the brand’s overall new marketing tagline (‘Here to Help Life Go Right’) and a marketing reframe that has seen the brand aim to broaden its messages beyond the traditional ‘help after accidents’ space.
According to Ad Aghe’s Datacenter, the insurer spent $543m on measured media in the USA during 2016.
Links:
State Farm:
https://www.youtube.com/user/statefarm
https://www.facebook.com/statefarm
https://www.instagram.com/statefarm/
NBA
http://www.instagram.com/nba
http://nba.tumblr.com
Translation NY
http://www.translationllc.com/
Marketing Arm
http://www.themarketingarm.com/
Yahoo Sports:
http://sports.yahoo.com/thevertical/
