Situation

State Farm, the largest U.S. insurance provider and a nearly 100-year-old brand, faced perception issues with Millennials and was being outspent by its competition 2:1.

Brief

Consumers were unable to recall recent State Farm work. Without a distinct voice, we were getting lost in the shuffle. Millennials respond best to brands that join their on-going conversations and speak in a relatable voice.

Objective

In order to stand out and drive brand memorability among Millennials, we reintroduced Jake from State Farm on social channels to do two things: 1) bridge relevant cultural moments for our Millennial target audience and 2) modernize State Farm by creating memorable, shareable content.

Jake from State Farm was one of those rare cultural hits. He only appeared onscreen for five seconds eight years ago, but he managed to capture the attention of our audience. And most importantly, they liked him. A lot.

Bringing him back as a brand ambassador was a no-brainer, but introducing just another spokesperson in a category of spokespeople wasn’t something we were interested in. Instead, we wanted to bridge the gap between the world our audience lived in and insurance. We needed a connection that was of and in culture to deliver cultural resonance for a low-involvement category.

We created a singular focus — the relaunch of Jake from State Farm — and used his likability to form strategic partnerships with some of the most influential voices in culture, helping stress our understanding of what our customers truly care about, from their possessions to their passions.

Millennials are our largest growth segment, accounting for 39% of auto insurance shoppers in 2018.

To capture their attention, we needed to understand their mindset. Millennials face a harsher “real world” than ever before. Despite everything, they’re still optimistic. They’re dedicated to making the world a better place while pursuing their dreams. To do that, they need someone that has their back, which is why we created the idea of choosing a partner, not a policy.

Knowing Millennials are savvy, we needed to create a campaign that was authentic and memorable — one that took the dry topic of insurance and made it relatable. We needed to show up where they were and tap into the events and ideas they cared about. If we did this, we’d prove to them that when it comes to choosing an insurance ally, there’s really only one choice.

Implementation:

Throughout 2020, we used Jake’s own social channels to bridge culturally resonant moments and modernize the brand to gain awareness and consideration for our Millennial target audience.

Timeline:

The re-launch of Jake form State Farm was executed throughout the year in 2020, beginning on February 2, 2020.

Placement

Social: Organic and Paid

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Twitter

• Snapchat

• Influencers

Digital

• Display Ads

• Online Videos

• Streaming

Scale

400+ media placements on a national scale.

Objective: Bridging Cultural Moments

- Engagement:

1.) Average organic engagement rate on both Twitter and Instagram exceeded platform benchmarks on a monthly basis.

- Buzz

1.) Earned social volume around Jake from State Farm (JFSF) grew 317.7% in 2020 vs. 2019.

2.) Organically grew Instagram followers by over 430% and increased Twitter followers by over 20% in 2020 with limited paid social support (<3 posts/year).

3.) Saw high-profile people in culture mentioning Jake throughout the year.

Objective: Modernize the Brand

- Memorability & Likability:

1.) Searches for JFSF increased exponentially in 2020, showing that more people are aware of JFSF and are actively searching for him (source: Google Trends).

- Impact:

1.) We saw a 113% increase in State Farm social volume (inclusive of JFSF mentions) YoY.

2.) In 2020, JFSF conversation drove positive sentiment (38% negative, 62% positive).

3.)JFSF drove ~600M incremental organic social impressions for State Farm.