State Farm might not celebrate March Madness in the traditional sense, but the insurance giant knows its way around the basketball court.
While most of the biggest spenders this time of year are NCAA corporate sponsors, State Farm has pieced together a unique college basketball platform, where March Madness has been replaced by high-flying dunks, long-distance 3-pointers and $18,000 half-court shots. It’s part of a three-pronged marketing attack State Farm employs during college basketball season, which effectively replaced the NCAA sponsorship it exited in 2011.
“We know that people root for teams, not leagues or the NCAA,” said Ed Gold, State Farm’s advertising director. “Getting out of the NCAA deal didn’t mean we wanted to get out of college basketball. We were actually looking for ways to further brand ourselves as a major supporter of college basketball.”
This Thursday, State Farm’s Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships will unofficially get Final Four weekend started, as it has for 27 years, this time at Butler University’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. It marks the 11th straight year that State Farm has title-sponsored the event, which is owned and operated by Chicago-based Intersport outside of the NCAA’s purview.
State Farm just extended its title sponsorship for three more years with Intersport.
“It’s a great way for State Farm to crown its seasonlong activation at the end of the season,” said Drew Russell, Intersport’s vice president of properties. “It’s one of the few things you can take into the Final Four market and truly own.”
This comes on the heels of a seasonlong sponsorship with ESPN to be presenting sponsor of ESPN’s “GameDay” show, during which State Farm gives away $18,000 to a college student who makes a shot from half court. This season, a record three students made the shot — one each at SMU, Virginia and North Carolina.
State Farm self-insures against the made shots, so the $54,000 awarded on “GameDay” didn’t come out of Gold’s marketing budget, but “it’s the best money we spend,” he said, adding that the social media from those shots probably made up for the cost.
Gold was watching his child’s chess competition last January when he sneaked a peek at his smartphone and noticed a video someone had sent him. It showed a Virginia student draining a half-court shot, running around the court and jumping on the scorer’s table that showed the insurance company’s red brand on the LED signage.
“You just can’t script that kind of stuff,” Gold said. “That’s when you strike gold.”
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State Farm has three winners of its $18,000 half-court shot contest this season on “GameDay.”
Photo by: PHIL ELLSWORTH / ESPN IMAGES |
Those events, along with the nearly ubiquitous State Farm signage on the stanchion behind the basket, have given the brand a broad college basketball presence.
Gold credited Dave Bialek with the idea to place the signage behind the hoop. Bialek, now with The Legacy Agency, was with ANC Sports in the mid-2000s when he suggested it, Gold said.
State Farm has signage deals with close to 100 colleges, including most of the schools
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From March 16: College writer Michael Smith and editor Tom Stinson discuss some of the ways in which a panel of athletic directors would like to make college basketball better.
in the power five conferences.
When State Farm and the NCAA (represented by CBS Sports and Turner) parted ways, the NCAA did not allow corporate signage in the stadium, which was one of State Farm’s beefs. The NCAA has since loosened those restrictions and now it features sponsors on LED courtside signage (see related story, Page 1).
But State Farm has found plenty of life in college basketball after the NCAA. In fact, Gold said State Farm runs just as much advertising now, if not more, in the CBS and Turner broadcasts of the NCAA tournament.
Optimum Sports handles all of State Farm’s college basketball ad buys and sponsorships.
“What we’ve found are the gifts that keep on giving,” Gold said. “The half-court shots run over and over on TV and social media. So do the dunks and 3-pointers. And the backboard signs are in all the highlights. Those are the opportunities we’re looking for.”
