As the 10-year anniversary of September 11 approached, State Farm set out to commemorate the moment with a message of thanks to the more than 400 fallen firefighters and first responders who bravely gave their lives that day. State Farm has been an active advocate supporter for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation for the last decade.

Given the sensitive nature of the subject matter, and sincerity with which it was delivered, it was imperative that the tribute be handled tastefully and remain focused on the message of thanks to the fallen heroes of 9/11, not on State Farm.

The purpose of this communication was to publicly acknowledge that, while a decade may have passed, the sacrifices and bravery of those we have lost will never be forgotten.

State Farm premiered its 90-second broadcast of 'Empire State of Mind' on the 10-year anniversary of September 11, airing it only once. Shot in documentary style, the tribute features New York City schoolchildren singing a rendition of Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s anthem, 'Empire State of Mind', to the firefighters at the 5 FDNY engine houses closest to ground zero. A tribute edition of the song was made available on iTunes and Amazon, with the proceeds benefitting the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.Relying solely on social media for the tribute’s broader communication, State Farm created a long-form documentary of its efforts, available on the company’s dedicated YouTube channel for just 7 days. For the duration of the week of 9/11, the channel as well as the StateFarm.com homepage was purposefully devoid of all State Farm branding. State Farm’s various social outlets followed suit as well.

In addition to being picked up by more than 150 mainstream publications and blogs, in the first 72 hours, 'Empire State of Mind' garnered more than 1.1m views on YouTube, was the #3 trending topic on Twitter and the 18th most searched term on Google.