To prove that Esurance passes their savings on to customers, we came up with a simple idea. We bought the first commercial after the Super Bowl, which saved us $1.5 million versus the cost of an in-game spot. Then, we took the $1.5 million and promised to give it to one lucky winner. To enter, people simply had to use #EsuranceSave30 on Twitter. Before the commercial aired, we created excitement by teasing the idea on web, print, social media and television.

By using a pallet of money, we were able to show consumers the tangible benefit of being a part of a smarter company. By challenging the efficiency of Super Bowl ads, we were able to create relevant scale. We conceptually and visually represented the benefit Esurance had been espousing for years – Esurance is built to save money, and when they save, they pass the savings on to their customer.

Leveraging the Twitter platform and spending a fraction of the other Super Bowl advertisers, in the first 60 minutes we saw 224,000 responses. In the 36 hours after the commercial ran, there were 5.4 Million hashtag uses leading to 2.6 Billion social media impressions. Based on similar efforts against similar projected audiences, we expected a response of approximately 1.8 Million entries. Without requiring follows, our Twitter followers jumped from below 9,000 to over 270,000 in 36 hours, an increase of almost 3000%. We received 550MM Media impressions and “won the Super Bowl” without even being in it.