To maintain State Farm’s leadership position and differentiate ourselves from the pack, we needed to continue to lean into our brand promise — Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. And we needed to do it in a super-bowl worthy, unexpected, and memorable way to capture the hearts and minds of America. Success was becoming more top-of-mind through unaided awareness, and dominating the social conversation around the game.
But to make a brand promise famous, you need to capture cultural lightning and bottle it. Our process of capturing that lightning came in a series of “what if” questions. A few led us to finding and refining that lightning.
“What if we made a State Farm movie?”
“What if we cast Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in a State Farm action movie?”
“What if Arnold had trouble pronouncing the Jingle?”
“What if we rejected the tried and true super bowl media plan and instead promoted our campaign like an actual movie”?
And from there, we were off to the races. We were going to act as if we were making a movie — Agent State Farm — and lean into innovative movie promotion strategies and tactics to build intrigue and conversation around the campaign—er, movie.
While other companies searched for the perfect spokesperson to deliver their message, State Farm took the opposite strategy: hire the one man whose mispronunciations are beloved by the entire country, and get him to butcher the jingle by repeatedly saying “Like a good ‘neighbaaa,’ State Farm is there.”
This initial spark quickly evolved into a multi-channel narrative designed to build buzz on social media and out in the world before, during, and after the big game.
We crafted a professionally produced movie trailer that looked remarkably like a genuine Hollywood production. We went further, leveraging media environments that consumers trust most for movie content/news, creating an official IMDB page and a movie poster that blurred the lines between advertising and entertainment, leaving film buffs questioning the project's authenticity. We got Jason Momoa to congratulate Arnold for landing the big gig as “Agent State Farm” in the very real (wink nudge) State Farm Movie. Additional amplification of the teaser in conversation-led social environments ensured that a wide enough audience was engaged in speculation before taking it to larger stages.
The campaign's momentum built up to the “rug pull” through strategic network and talent partnerships. State Farm’s long time partner NBCU, arranged for Arnold’s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (State Farm spokesperson) where he playfully promoted the "60-second movie that is definitely not an ad," adding another layer of intrigue to the unfolding story.
Post-interview, the jig was up, and the media support pre-Super Bowl pivoted to an emphasization of the spoof, revealing that the movie “aired on 2.11.24”. The team tapped on social-first custom content partners like Fandom who helped continue to poke fun and keep audiences engaged before the big game.
The Super Bowl commercial became the campaign's centerpiece, with Arnold's intentional mispronunciations of the State Farm jingle transforming a potential marketing moment into a cultural touchpoint. Additionally, by sheer luck, the Super Bowl went into an unexpected overtime, and State Farm was quick to jump at the opportunity to add another :30s unit in the most-watched event of the season while eyes were glued to screens around the country to see who would become victorious. Post-game, a mix of Social, Audio and Video tactics helped sustain reach and add frequency of the :60s, ensuring audiences heard his repeated "Like a good 'neighbaaa'", which became a talking point that transcended traditional advertising.
From a business perspective, State Farm saw an increase in consideration (4.1 ppt) and in favorability (3.29 ppt) across all audiences, with the month following the Super Bowl registering the two single highest weekly consideration scores for State Farm in the past 4 years, creating lasting fame and salience that positioned the brand for future profit and market share growth.
From an Engagement/Reach perspective, the list of accolades and achievements goes on and on. We made the jingle famous and got people talking about State Farm.
