State Farm’s NBA marketing efforts are built around the idea of assists, and an increasing number of fans are pointing to the company — assist-style — in recognition, with more and more people aware of its sponsorship of the league.
According to the results of this year’s NBA sponsor loyalty survey conducted by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment for SportsBusiness Journal, the number of fans who correctly identified State Farm as an NBA sponsor increased by four percentage points this year over 2014. That growth rate is tops among all league sponsors measured, and it was due fully to the gains State Farm made among casual fans in the survey. This year, more than 17 percent of the casual fans polled correctly identified State Farm as the NBA’s sponsor in the insurance category. That’s more than double the 8 percent response rate State Farm received from casual fans last year.
 |
State Farm added more NBA All-Stars, a hall of famer and a WNBA
All-Star to its National Bureau of Assists ad series.
Photo by: STATE FARM
|
Driving State Farm’s visibility this season was an enhancement of its popular “Born to Assist” campaign, with the company adding players to its past efforts along with creating a campaign element called the National Bureau of Assists. The ad series, which debuted in 2012, features Los Angeles Clippers All-Star Chris Paul and his fictional twin, Cliff Paul, who works as a State Farm agent. The new players (also with fictional twins) added to the campaign this season included 2014-15 NBA MVP Stephen Curry, Portland All-Star Damian Lillard, hall of famer John Stockton and WNBA All-Star Sue Bird.
State Farm has been an NBA sponsor since 2010. It added the WNBA to its sponsorship portfolio in 2013.
Ed Gold, State Farm advertising director, said the company has taken full advantage of those partnerships, noting that the “Assists” campaign features “three of the best current point guards, an excellent WNBA point guard, and the career assists leader.”
State Farm also returned as title sponsor for All-Star Saturday Night this year, continuing a role it has had since it signed on with the NBA five years ago. TV coverage of this year’s event (on TNT) averaged a 3.4 rating, the highest mark for the showcase since 2012. Gold noted that State Farm had a heavy presence on social media throughout All-Star Weekend as well, promoting #AllStar-Assist frequently. In addition, State Farm had more than 200 “assist ambassadors” in New York City during All-Star Weekend — people wearing State Farm jackets who helped fans around town.
With these and other activations in play, State Farm has seen its response score among all fans surveyed increase from less than 12 percent in 2013 to this year’s mark near 19 percent. Emilio Collins, NBA executive vice president of global marketing partnerships, praised State Farm’s efforts.
“State Farm is right now the gold standard as a partner in how to be fully vested in basketball,” Collins said.
Among other findings in the survey:
■ Gatorade continues to reign as the most recognized NBA sponsor brand, with almost 50 percent of all respondents
correctly identifying it as a league sponsor, up from 48 percent last year. The results this season came in a year that marks the 50th anniversary of the brand, a point Gatorade highlighted in its activation.
■ The second highest-scoring sponsor, Anheuser-Busch, saw its score fall this year, dropping to about 23 percent among all fans from 27 percent last year.
 |
Gatorade’s 50th anniversary tied in to its NBA activation.
|
■ American Express, the official credit card of the NBA since 2010, significantly narrowed the gap between it and Visa in the survey’s credit card category. Last year, almost 25 percent of all fans surveyed identified Visa as the NBA’s credit card sponsor (incorrectly so), compared to just under 16 percent who correctly tabbed AmEx. Those numbers this year were 23 percent for Visa and almost 19 percent for AmEx.
The main element of AmEx’s activation this year was its “Home Court Advantage” campaign, which included video stories of various NBA players. Michele Carr, director of sports sponsorships and strategy at American Express, said the company targeted players from different backgrounds and markets for the effort and didn’t just select players who play for the five teams that AmEx sponsors. Among the players featured were Kevin Love, John Wall and Kenneth Faried.
Carr said the company also was pleased with its social media initiatives and how the company was able to “combine both the national and team sponsorships together in a successful way.”
The NBA’s Collins praised AmEx’s efforts as well. He said the company has taken advantage of a time for the NBA in which “an increasing amount of players are resonating with Q scores.”
Methodology
For this project, Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, through its Turnkey Intelligence operation, conducted national consumer research surveys among a sample of more than 400 members of the Toluna online panel who were at least 18 years old.
The 2015 survey was conducted May 19-22, a period that coincided with the NBA conference finals. The 2014 and 2013 surveys were conducted at a similar time.
Respondents were screened and analyzed based on their general avidity levels. Fans categorized as “avid” were those who responded “4” or “5” to the question “How big a fan are you of the NBA?” and claimed to “look up news, scores and standings several times a week or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least 10 games per season,” and “have a favorite team.” Fans categorized as “casual” responded “3” to the same initial question, then claimed to “look up news, scores and standings several times a month or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least 3 games per season,” and “have a favorite team.”
When asked to identify sponsors, respondents selected from a field of companies and brands that was provided to them. Only the top-scoring brands are noted here. Percentages have been rounded, and the margin of error for each survey is +/- 4.9.
Turnkey Intelligence performs research for more than 70 North American major league teams, league offices and brands. The NBA and approximately one-third of the league’s teams are among Turnkey’s clients.
