State Farm may be the second-biggest ad spender among insurance marketers, but an aggressive new media strategy is putting it at the top of the branded-entertainment pack.
The insurer recently had its debut as the integrated sponsor of "Jacked: Auto Theft Task Force," a new reality series airing Thursday nights at 10 on A&E, in which New Jersey-based State Farm agent Tom Tobin also appears. So the series apparently is like "Cops" but specializing in car theft and located on the bad-ass backstreets of Jersey. Yes, the insurance rates are pretty high there, and one of the reasons why The Garden State is such an expensive place to live.
The advertising manager for State Farm says insurance isn't always the easiest thing to brand when it comes to product placements, so when "Jacked" was pitched to State Farm and their media agency, Omnicom Group's OMD, they saw a rare branding opportunity.
Looks to me like the kind of opportunity that could certainly be tricky, but it makes sense for State Farm to jump on it. It's important for them to help consumers understand that even good drivers pay high rates for insurance because of all the bad people out there who make a living jacking cars. I suppose you can also think of it as somewhat of a reaction to the way car theft has been glamorized in those "Grand Theft Auto" video games. As the saying goes, "it's all fun and games until it happens to you."
Check out the Ad Age story here:
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