Reaching Gen Z is difficult, and creating a community amongst them is becoming increasingly more challenging. State Farm aims to connect with these potential new insurance consumers to build genuine lifelong relationships and future-proof the brand.

In 2022, iHeartMedia developed a first-to-market activation in the Metaverse via Roblox and Fortnite that combined gaming, live events, and music via chart-topping artists. State Farm worked with iHeart to extend its in-real-life strategy of branding event spaces to the metaverse via the creation of State Farm Park. This meta-site was the virtual home of the top music and podcast events through the lens of future-forward marketing. State Farm and iHeart heavily promoted State Farm Park to Gen Z users via audio, digital, and social activations. 

Through this unique space, State Farm brought Gen Z together to drive brand affinity through engaging elements like branded non-player characters (Jake from SF), challenges, and VERCH.

Insurance companies are adjusting to the modern world, but Gen Z is reshaping what shopping for insurance looks like. And no other age group values brands that understand them and can reach them on their terms more than Gen Z does.

So, State Farm’s strategically pioneered a first-of-its-kind activation rooted in its mission to generate future demand with this audience.

Winning attention within the limitless barriers of the Metaverse requires innovative touchpoints across music and gaming.

Through the confluence of content creation, audio/sonic branding, and interactive experiences, State Farm was able to engage the Gen Z audience with the most relevant experiences, like:

Engaging A-list music artists to forge fandom and engagement

Creating mini-games and challenges that allowed gaming fans to showcase their skills

Promoting relatable music content to drive mass scale through audio

Through this immersion, State Farm built a community among Gen Z users in the Metaverse.

State Farm partnered with iHeartMedia to develop State Farm Park, the first custom-branded virtual event space in Roblox and Fortnite. Beginning in July 2022, iHeartMedia leveraged its strength in the audio space to promote this new virtual neighborhood, iHeartLand, through mass-reaching promotions across Terrestrial Radio, Streaming, Podcast, and social channels. Event tune-ins began in August, leading up to the first-ever concert with Charlie Puth in September 2022.

Since then, several music and podcast events (Lauv, The Trap Nerds, etc.) have premiered and continued driving users to State Farm Park, where a branded Ferris Wheel sits at the center. State Farm also generated player interaction with the brand through in-game challenges, virtual merchandise, and via Jake’s (from State Farm) non-player-character. 

Due to immense promotion, artist talent, fan presence, and more, State Farm Park has accumulated over 9M lifetime visits across Roblox and Fortnite combined (through February 2023).

Over six months, visits to State Farm Park have grown from approximately 900K at launch in September to 9M lifetime visitors (as of February 2023) across Roblox and Fortnite!

Artist performances have been the primary audience driver, with Charlie Puth (900K+) and Fall Out Boy (800K+) being the top performers.

In addition, branded fan challenges like Monsta X fan game (85K plays) and Fall Out Boy’s Step and Repeat (545K selfies taken by fans) continue to engage fans, leading to a 74% retention rate across events.

The program resulted in significant increases in awareness (+18pts), perception (+19pts), and consideration (+16pts) for State Farm, as measured by a brand study. These results combined prove that fan engagement is translating to brand equity. State Farm's multi-platform 'always on' media to bring players into the game, drive awareness of events & in-game State Farm activations has delivered 1.4B+ impressions to date.