State Farm - IMC Plan

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IMC Plan By

Caterina Simonetto

Kiyama Konomi

Marcelo Brescia

Pacie Tsai

Sinan Milasli

Yuki Okamoto

U.C. Berkeley Extension ⏐ Integrated Marketing Communications ⏐Spring 2010

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IMC Plan – State Farm

Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................3 Situation Analysis ..............................................................................................................4 SWOT analysis ................................................................................................................. 10 Target ................................................................................................................................. 11 Positioning ........................................................................................................................ 13 Objective setting ............................................................................................................. 14 Budgeting .......................................................................................................................... 15 Strategy .............................................................................................................................. 16 Creative message ............................................................................................................ 17 Mix of tools........................................................................................................................ 19 Phases description ......................................................................................................... 20 Media + Non-media Plans ............................................................................................ 28 Evaluation ......................................................................................................................... 30

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Introduction

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is the coordination and integration of all

marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on customers and other stakeholders at a minimal cost. This integration affects all of a firm’s B2B, marketing channel, customer-‐focused, and internally directed communications.

Developing an IMC Plan requires from marketers to create a consistent message by using some of the following tools: tvmagazinesradiosinterneteventssponsorshipsocialmediabrandentertainmentfolderssalesaidssalespromotionsnewspaperflickertwitterfacebookapplicationindoormediamobilemediaorkutyoutubebannerspanfletsbroadcastsblogsgoogleadwordspackagesmerchandisingoutdoorbillboardguerrilabuzzmarketingpublicrelationsdatabasedirectresponsemarketingcrmpartnershipssupportsjournalsseminarslecturesmessengerskypepostersgamesmicroblogslifestreamlivecastsvirtualworldssocialgamesrebatesetc…

Fortunately, there are some more effective ways to put these tools together. By the way, let’s present one of them related to State Farm auto insurance services…

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PART 1:

Situation Analysis

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Overall⏐Since it’s beginning, US auto insurance industry has been able to achieve a fair

degree of maturity. In a span of a decade and a half, rate of growth of US auto insurance industry has been 4.5 percent.

As a result of the global economic crisis, the brand value of the insurance category has declined by 48 percent (Source Millward Brown⏐BrandZ ranking)

Generally, American companies fared better than other competitors because their more balanced portfolios include a greater mix of personal as well as business products. Geico’s greater exposure to the car insurance business insulated the brand from the current market conditions and helped it to climb five places in the insurance category ranking.

State Farm declined in brand value by 27 percent. But its performance was relatively strong compared with the 82 percent decline in brand value suffered by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, which ranks last.

Problems of US auto industry ⏐In recent times some problems have been impacting US auto insurance industry, such as:

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-‐ Risk of insurance fraud due to economic downturn: US auto insurance authorities have put in place low impact programs that help deal with such fraudulent practices.

-‐High expenses, incurred by US auto insurance companies. : These expenses have resulted from over treating legitimate injuries as well as treating soft tissue injuries, which are non-‐existent.

Trends in US auto industry ⏐Also, it is noticeable the impact of two trends over the US auto insurance industry:

-‐Presence of fewer and larger companies, as result of new M&A activities

-‐ Use of rating tools by the consumers, as result of an erosion of credit scores

Opportunities ⏐By analyzing the economic environment, we found the following opportunities that can be used in the IMC Plan:

-‐ Compete for the low prices in the auto insurance market

-‐ Develop and reinforce tools – such as Rate Quote – that help the consumers to evaluate what is the most inexpensive auto insurance company.

COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

Overall⏐ The insurance industry is an extremely competitive marketplace.

64% of market share is concentrated with the top 10 insurance companies (State Farm ranks #1 -‐ 17.6% / Source: A.M. Best 2006).

State Farm is the largest Auto insurer of Young Adults, but share has been eroding due to action take by competitors like Geico and Progressive.

Today’s insurance landscape is divided into those companies that maintain an independent agent model and direct-‐to-‐consumer insurers:

-State Farm’s agent model competitors: Allstate (#2), Nationwide and Farmers

-State Farm’s direct insurer model: Geico (#3) and Progressive (both have been positively perceived by Young Adults and making strong inroads with the target)

Communication analysis⏐In a way to build/maintain awareness and recognition, State Farm, Geico, Progressive and Allstate are the top advertisers when talking about insurance (TNS Media Intelligence -‐ 2007).

Rank Company Ad $ (millions)

1 Geico 539 2 Progressive 290 3 Allstate 258 4 State Farm 190

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Most part of the investment is concentrated in TV commercials (75%-‐80%), followed by radio and internet (TNS Media Intelligence -‐ 2007). Geico is often perceived as the biggest payer due to their high media spend. While State Farm, Allstate and Progressive spend at somewhat comparable levels, Geico has been investing significantly more in advertising.

It’s also noticeable that all of these competitors make investment in the Spanish language, as a result of the growing numbers of immigrants in the US market.

Following we present a briefly description of the current communications tools used by the most important advertisers insurance companies:

State Farm builds its leadership position by communicating how it helped people manage

the risks of everyday life and recover from the unexpected (slogan is “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there”). As we are going to describe later, the positioning “Now What” contributes a lot to change the perception of an old-‐fashionable and expensive brand towards the Young Adults target. Currently, State Farm message is focusing mostly in the price benefits.

Examples of communication tools:

1) TV commercials

2) Corporate and segmented websites (e.g, Thanks for Being There)

3) Music to download

4) iPhone application – State Farm Pocket Agent

5) Sponsorship LeBron James Family Foundation and Steve Harvey online Comedy Show

Geico has a magic talking gecko. Appealing to their

sense of humor and desire to avoid the actual topic of insurance, Geico promises extreme rates and offer many online tools.

Geico’s current campaign’s signature is “Geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more in car insurance”


1) TV commercials

2) Corporate and segmented webistes (e.g, Geico Teen Drivers Channel)

3) Music and ringtones

to download

4) iPhone application -‐ GloveBox Features

5) Geico Direct Magazine

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It’s main selling point is that it provides a comparison of prices and

services among different car insurance companies, so that consumers can earn distinct they are getting the best value for their money. Thus, Progressive’s appeals to both its thriftiness and its preferred mode of interaction – online with a “we’ll do the shopping comparison for you so you can just sign and save” promise.


1) TV commercials

2) Corporate and segmented webistes (e.g, Teens.Progressive)

3) Sponsorship Oprah’s No Phone Zone Pledge

4) Event (competition) The Progressive Automotive X Prize

Attempts to connect with viewer’s

emotional need for protection, by showing car accidents and the fear instilled in people afterwards. They normally appeal to a different car insurance market demographic and their campaign focus is the safety (slogan is “You’re in good hands”).


1) TV commercials

2) Corporate webiste

3) Sponsorship of 2010 U.S. Winter Olympic Team

Social Media ⏐As we are talking about a target that spends a lot of time using social networking websites, we made an special analysis of the usage of this tools for the auto insurance brands. State Farm, Geico, Progressive and Allstate use the following types of social medias to interact with their consumers: facebook, twitter and youtube.

Just to illustrate, we bring a comparison between the usage of the twitter for this brands (datas collected on Feb 27, 2010):

Cost comparison⏐The competitive environment for insurance providers has become much more aggressive in recent years. Price and affordability have become extremely important, all the more so with the current economic situation. The top competitors brands are battling for market share, each trying to deliver a best price and discount message.

As the rates depend on a variety of factors -‐ driving record, the types of vehicles you drive, household composition, credit record, and so on – it is very difficult to determine which is the most inexpensive auto

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insurance company. One good way to find out if State Farm, Geico, Progressive or Allstate offer cheaper car insurance rates is to simply get a comparison quote from these companies. Because of this, all of them offer the quote rate tool in their websites.

Opportunities ⏐By analyzing the competitive environment, we found the following opportunities that can be used in the IMC Plan:

-‐ Create a differentiated communication strategy, considering that the most representative competitors of State Farm appeal to the price attributes, despite of having different positioning each other.

-‐ Develop an IMC Plan more consistent and effective, mainly when we consider the campaign of Geico, which is strongly focused in the Young Adults target and offer benefits with more aggregate value (e.g, iPhone application)

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

Overall⏐ The analysis of the impacts of the

technological facts/trends in the

automotive industry is very important to predict how the insurance market will have to evolve.

Thus, some of the most important facts/trends to be evaluated are:

-‐Vehicle telematics: the integrated use of telecommunications and informatics within road vehicles (e.g, GPS navigation and integrated hands-‐free cell phones)

-‐Intelligent highways: equipped with wireless technology, fiber optics, sensors, cameras, GPS and robotic car have the potential to decrease traffic congestion, increase highway safety and reduce the environmental impact caused by traffic jams

-‐Eco-‐Embedded: serious eco-‐results will depend on making products and processes more sustainable without consumers even noticing it

Opportunities ⏐By analyzing the technological environment, we found the following opportunities that can be used in the IMC Plan:

-‐ Evaluate the most usages telematics to reach directly the target

-‐ Develop eco-‐friendly actions

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REGULAMENTORY ENVIRONMENT

Overall⏐ There are some legal regulations involving how insurance products can be

advertised together, but they will not be factored into this case.

Also, despite of the law saying that it is forbidden to drive without your motorized vehicle insurance or even drunk, many Young Adults don’t respect that rules and are punished in some ways, like: serious fine, impounding of their vehicle or even detention center time. Added to this information, it is important to consider that drunk driving is the leading cause of death for Young Adults in US.

Trends ⏐According to an outlook developed by Ernst & Young in 2009, some regulatory trends take will impact over the auto insurance market are:

-‐ Increasing number of regulations, which will become more uniform if not national.

-‐ Regulatory price suppression / compression due to political pressures

Opportunities ⏐By analyzing the regulamentory environment, we found the following opportunities that can be used in the IMC Plan:

-‐ Support causes related to car crashes involving Young Adults, by developing projects or campaign focusing in the conscientization of this target.

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PART 1:

SWOT analysis

Overall⏐ A SWOT Analysis is a natural extension of the Situation Analysis and involves study of the opportunities and threats facing State Farm

category and its brand along with an objective analysis of strengths and weaknesses compared to competitive brands.

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PART 2:

Target Overall⏐ The main target of this integrated marketing communication is called Young Adults, 18-‐25 aged independent individuals. The population

currently numbers approximately 33 million people. There are over 11 million households that currently include a young adult, and among those households, there are 3.3 million as heads of their own household, mainly are age 22-‐23, the order portion of this demographic.

This group of people pay 50% or more of their living expenses, therefore they are comparatively price sensitive and distinguished from dependents by their autonomy on both insurance and financial services product.

For the cultural composition of this section, according to a report, this generation is the most multicultural generation, with one in three considering themselves not Caucasian. Those who are in multicultural groups are more likely to be more independent, indicating an important marketing opportunity.

Mentioning the purchasing behavior of our target, due to the price sensitivity, they are more likely to be shopping for insurance than other segments of the population. They respond to dissatisfying experience and price quickly in changing providers. Because of this attribute, they are bombarded with constant price and discount message from different providers, which make them even more easily to switch insurance company. According to the statics, this segment has higher rate 32% of switching providers than those whose parents pay (12%).

They way they collect information is also different from traditional customer. They prefer various channels, such as online/ call center for price quotes, while for advisory issues, they prefer in person or phone access, and for account maintenance and new information, they prefer online service.

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Therefore, the image of State Farm in our target’s mind is old fashion due to its agent based model and the stereotype of “parent’s insurance company,” so that they are considered resistant target.

This target has just finished college or started their adult life and they want to spread their wings and sample life. They are into entertainment and enjoy outdoor activities like camping, sports and running. They are ready to spend money on entertainment centers, shows, good sound systems and electronic “necessities” that allow them to stay in touch with the “fun world”. They like staying in shape so they can participate in the active lifestyle their youth necessitates.

Opportunities ⏐By analyzing the target, we found the following opportunities that can be used in the IMC Plan:

-‐ Deliver a message that is relevant to the Young Adults, since it is difficult to engage this target in discussion about spending money to prepare for the unexpected

-‐ Consider the places where this target spend most of their times , in a way to determine the Media Plan and other non-‐media actions

-‐ Develop a strategy also to maintain this target as a client of State Farm, as they easier switch auto insurance providers.

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PART 2:

Positioning Several years ago State Farm iniciated a Young Adult task force to put together a plan to try to market share with the target. The brand

recognized that in order to get Young Adults to think differently about the brand, it had to act diffrently towards them. In order to get Young Adults to recognize that State Farm was a brand for them, and not an old fashioned one, the challenge was to puncture their indifference to the insurance category, engage them with the barnd in a way that would cause them to re-‐evaluate its relevancy, and finally, jolt them into action. In 2006, a series of unbranded televisoin, print, digital and OOH executions where created that featured provocative situations and posed the question “Now What?”, providing just a web address as the answer. Rather than using the typical scenarios featured in most insurance advertising, the campaign focused in real-‐life situations. By pairing these unfortunate events with the question “Now What?”, State Farm tapped into a key target insight – Young Adults don’t always know what to do.

The success of this positioning was evident, contributing to improve the perceptions of the target about the brand relevancy and also increasing the number of new Auto and Renters policies purchased by Young Adults.

While the “Now What?”campaign acted as an effective way to begin building a bridge to the State Farm brand with Young Adults, the time has come to evolve communications to this target.

The big question now is: should State Farm maintain the sucessful “Now What?” positioning, should State Farm change it in a way to extend this positioning or should State Farm replace it totally for a brand new different one?

That’s what we are going to present in the next pages…

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PART 2:

Objective

setting

The main aim of this IMC plan is to achieve the growth trough new Young Adult Auto policies.

State Farm is currently under-‐penetrated this market, but long-‐term growth requires getting closer with this target in order to increase sales and be more competitive.

Other competitors as Geico and Progressive are a significant competitive treat because they have already reached this target.

State Farms considers the Young Adult an opportunity as Independent Young Adults aged 18-‐25, different from the Dependent ones, because of their autonomy and decision making on both insurance and financial service products.

State Farms Auto insurance is the strongest product that can build a relationship with Young Adults, and the brand can improve its position by showing how State Farm Auto insurance matches the needs of this target.

State Farmers is #1 in Renters insurance and is successful in gaining new Young Adult Renters customers from those who apply for a policy.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, there is a big opportunity for growing in this target.

State Farm provides a number of other insurance and financial service products that can satisfy this target. While Auto and Renters insurance represent the biggest growth potential for the Young Adult target, supporting other lines can help to reach the target.

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PART 2:

Budgeting Overall⏐ As marketers that are

trying to reach out to the young adult market, we are given a $ 40 million budget. We are free to use this budget however we like to

use, which in our case is going to be used only in the “P” of “Promotion”.

Later, we are going to show exactly which percentage we are going to spend per tools of communication used in the IM Plan.

We will have one year to develop this campaign, starting on May, 2010 and finishing on May, 2011.

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PART 3:

Strategy Considering all the opportunities identified above, the Brand Tone of State Farm, the main objective of

the campaign and the $40 million budge, we recommend the following strategy:

-‐ Added to the low price rates, deliver benefits to the State Farm’s Young Adult’s target, in a way to make them feel exclusive and interested in taking part of these advantages

-‐ Extend the former positioning based in the “Now What?” successful campaign, focusing in the benefits that will be delivered to the target

-‐ Develop a message and actions that are relevant and impact direct in the reality of the Young Adults

-‐ In most of the cases, select in the IMC Plan medias and vehicles that are more active with the target. In other words, instead of waiting for the target to get reached by the media, we are going to choose medias that belong to the reality of the target and in some cases request for their engagement

-‐ Focus the strategy in two main groups of Young Adults: (1) New consumers (2) Current State Farm’s consumers

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PART 3:

Creative

message

Now it is time to implement the strategy suggested above. As we said, we are going to extend the positioning based in the “Now What” successful campaign, by

focusing our communication on the benefits that State Farm will deliver to its target. In other words, the campaign will talk about all the new benefits that will be offered by State Farm. We consider this an extension of the “Now What” campaign, because:

-“Now What?”: provocative questions for Young Adults, asking them what they would do if they are facing unfortunate events that involve their autos.

-New message: After knowing or trying State Farm’s auto insurance service to find out how to deal with the situations exposed in the “Now What” campaign, it is time to realize that State Farm can offer much more benefits to the Young Planner. More than this, State Farm understand that low prices are important, but also that its particular target has specific needs and would like to be treated in an exclusively way.

Developing a new message ⏐Considering this, we come up with a new message that can summarize that State Farm understand better the Young Adult target and know exactly how to fit their necessities. To convey this notion, we design the following message to sign the whole campaign: “Right On”.

We reach this message by considering an expression that is usually used by the target, when they see something that they agree with.

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It is important to emphasize that all of communication suggested in this IMC Plan will be signed with this message, in a way to build a consistent positioning in the consumers minds.

02 approaches⏐As described above, the strategy will be focused in to two main groups of Young Adults: (1) New consumers (2) Current State Farm’s consumers. When we talk about the benefits, it becomes clearer this distinction, as only who is already State Farm’s client will be able to enjoy the benefits offered by them. By doing this, State Farm will create a perception of exclusiveness, which is quite appreciated for the Young Adults target, and probably will turn those who are not clients interested in belong to this “world of benefits”.

The distinction of approaches will be signalized along the benefits offered by State Farm. in the following way:

Phases of the campaign ⏐The campaign will be divided in four phases: (1) Implementation of the benefits, (2) Segmented communication (3) Mass communication (4) Evaluation of the campaign

In other words, first State Firm is going to act. Then, it is going to spread the action in a way to generate world-‐of-‐mouth. Later, State Farm will disclose the campaign and engage the target by using mainstream channels of communication. Finally, it will be tracked the brand’s performance against the objective of the campaign.

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PART 3:

Mix of tools Determining an appropriate mixture of tools to communicate the campaign is a complex decision that involves an

accurate analysis of the target and its touchpoints. In the particular case of this campaign, we are going to use the three types of medias -‐ traditional media, e-‐active marketing and alternative channels -‐, as illustrated below:

The graphic above considers the moment when each tool of communication start to be used per phase. In other words, the tools that started to be used in phase 1 will be used on the next phases, and so on.

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PART 3:

Phases

description

PHASE 1

Benefits offered ⏐The benefits offered by State Farm are the core of the campaign, because they will be responsible to create a differentiation among the

competitors in the mind of the Young Adults.

To develop them we considered the following context about this target:

-‐ price-‐sensitive

-‐ frequently touchpoints

-‐ needs and lifestyle

Below, we present some benefits that could be offered by State Farm:

1) Party bus

Description: special buses that take State farm’s clients to parties. The ambience of this buses will be very cool, matching with the characteristics of the target.

2) "Secure Driver"

Description: Need a taxi to get home after a night of fun? State Farm's clients will be able to call for a taxi to take their home from 8 pm to 2 am.

3) Discounts

Description: State Farm will make agreements with some companies, in order to provide discounts in specific places, such as: parking spaces (close to universities, cinemas and concert halls) for those who are State Farm's clients. Also, State Farm will

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give to its clients discount tickets in activities that are related to lifestyles of the target (will be described better in Phase 2), such as: concerts, cinemas, bars, exhibitions, and so on.

Finally, aiming to incentive “the good drivers” in a target that is well known to be one of the most involved in fatal car crashes in US, State Farm will give discounts in buying a new contract or renewing the auto insurance policy for those who didn’t have any penalties in their drivers license.

4) Special quick queues

Description: State Farm’s client will be able to take special quick queues to get inside the events that State Farm is giving discount tickets.

5) State Farm’s telephone

Description: make available telephones all over the highways, in order to make possible that people whose car broken and have their mobile phone out of battery can call to the State Farm services

Related actions⏐Complementing the benefits, we also suggest the development of the following tools/actions:

1) Customized State Farm auto insurance card

Description: as we are talking about a particular target, State Farm will developed a special auto insurance card with the design of the vehicle of the client.

2) Car stickers

Description: in order to make easier the process of recognizing State Farm’s clients in places where that company provide benefits (e.g., parking spaces), it will be developed some “cool” car stickers for them.

3) Agents

Description: Since State Farm maintain an independent agent model and the target is more used to make services primarily via call centers and the internet, it is important to pay attention in the services delivered by these agents and the place where it happens. This become even more important, if we consider that in major of the times, that is the first time that the Young Adults are dealing direct with an auto insurance service. Because of this, we recommend the following actions:

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-Training: some agents should be trained to conduct business exclusively with the Young Adults, as these target is “beginner” in this field, which means that probably they will need more support and attention.

-‐Interior design: to make the experience of going to a State Farm’s agent more pleasant and natural, we recommend that State Farm provide special agencies for this target. In other words, these places should be designed considering the characteristics of the target, such as flexible schedule, near to universities and friendly ambience. It is important to consider that this agency won’t replace the traditional ones, but will only complement them in a way to cover the Young Adults demand.

Traditional agencies

Berkeley State Farm Agency

PHASE 2

Segmented communication ⏐In order to generate free-‐publicity and consistence, we are going to involve the journalists and opinion leaders in the communication by using press agents and public relation. Also, we

are going to communicate straight to the target by bringing the message to theirs touchpoints, instead of waiting for them to look for State Farm.

1) PR and Agent Press

Description: Public relations are really important in our IMC plan because they’re the most important tool to keep updated journalists and useful for increasing the visibility.

We plan to keep updated the press sending press releases about new product or events that we support at least once a month by mail. We’re going to send them all the information they need for their publication, including images so they can figure out which are our distinctive characteristics.

We’re are going to organize also some events dedicated to the journalists, so we can have the chance to explain them better State Farm’s products. Of course, we plan to invite them to all our events that we’re going to support and the contests.

The journalists that publish an article about State Farm will receive one of our benefits for free, so they can have the chance to try one our product and understand our benefits.

2) Right On website

Description: As our target are people from 18 to 24 years old, we figured out a website full of interesting information and useful tools for reaching the target.

Some of the contents available are:

-‐State Farm new products: dedicated to present the benefits, such as: “Party bus”, “Secure drivers” and “State Farm’s telephone”;

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-Digital Radio: selection of top hits related to the target and musics to download;

-Events: all the upcoming events related to the Young Adults;

-News: all the events of which State Farm is offering discounts;

-Get a discount here: randomly banners where the State Farm’s client can print his ticket discounts by using his or her auto insurance number. This data will be analyzed and used later for more customized actions with these customers.

-Photos: users can upload and share pictures;

-Blog: users can leave their comments about State Farm’s products and give suggestions to other people.

-State farm can help you in every situation: this part is dedicated to illustrate in how many daily situation we need a State Farm product.

-Teaser: section related to future action related to the “Right On” campaign, such as: State Farm FM and State Farm’s TV Contest (both we are going to describe later);

-Games: a page to entertain people with some games such as tetris or puzzles (researches show that more time a person spend in your website more chance you have to turn him/her into a customer).

-Feedback: we collect the feedback of our website visitors through surveys in order to improve our tool and match their needs.

We’re going to promote our website through different channels such as pop up in the campus university website and State Farm website, that will include also a link to our new website.

It’s important to include our website address in every promotional tools, such as the press release that we sent to journalists and also in each of our

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new promotional such as the party bus or the State Farm telephone.

Then for sure we’re gonna advertise it through the social media tool.

3) Social media

Description: Since State Farm and its main competitors already use some social medias -‐ facebook, twitter and youtube – we recommend that State Farm increase its social media tools or even start to use new ones. Below, we present some suggestions:

-Facebook: send people that are fans of State Farm’s communities Birthday cards with discounts

-Blog: create State Farm’s blog linked to the “Right On” website, where visitors users can leave their comments about State Farm’s products, give suggestions to other people and send pictures and movies about any particular situation that they have lived.

-Flicker: show pictures of event involving the Young Adults target, such as the “Party bus” or any of the events that State Farm gives discounts

-Mixcloud: as the target is enthusiastic to music, we suggest this social media where the visitors can re commend musics

4) Application for iPhone and smartphones

Description: As far as we know about i-‐phone and Smartphone users download their favorite or useful applications on their displays such as games, news, and calendars in order to keep using and seeing the information without going specific websites. Beside, it became popular for companies to provide the applications for free to their customers as services. It helps customers that have contracted a specific service to simplify getting information.

State Farm is also one of the companies that utilize the application for the customers who have i-‐touch and i-‐phone.

Considering target, it is time to improve the application and the features for them based on the previous features:

• Bill Pay: Allow the customers pay their bills on the application

• Find Discounts usable places: a feature finds out places that can use discount benefits such as parking spots

• Register for a party bus: a feature allows the customers to register a party bus by the application and tell them where a bus pick them up

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• Find the roads has traffic jams: a feature finds out places that has traffic jam

• Music for driving: a feature provide the customers music that can young adult prefer listening during driving

5) “Students communications”

Description: Since the target spend a big percentage of their time inside of the universities, we recommend the following actions:

-Student newspapers: many colleges have their own student newspaper, which includes daily information around campus and local city, the student activities, such as student events, sport competitions, concerts information and so on. Depends on campuses, there are daily published, weekly published, and season published one. Since students take those papers as a method to get new information, State Farm can use these tools to communicate the message.

-Local free publication: also widely read by students, those pamphlet types of issues can be mainly divided into 3 categories—music and art, movies information, sport events. Students can get those pamphlets or flyers in theaters, gyms, dormitories, or even café shops around campuses. State Farm can pick those which have similar features to the IMC promotion as an instrument to communicate. Sports and movie,

concert related issues will be good choices.

-Outdoor/ indoor information

1) Students billboard-‐ even it is simply a single flyer among all other clutters, it is close to young adults’ lifestyle, and can improve brand image among students.

2) School gym-‐ While students are exercising, it is a good chance for State Farm to expose the information in front of them since the students have nowhere to go but stay on the machine. Besides, the message of the promotion is very cheerful and energetic; it will fit the image of gyms a lot.

3) Other school buildings-‐ such as dormitories, auditorium, stadium, where posters can be shown in front of students are also good options for State Farm.

4) Popular places around campus-‐ such as café, bookstores, and cinemas around campuses. In addition to posting posters, those places also provide racks for pamphlets. It’s a good way to communicate with young adult group through the places where young adults are familiar with.

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6) Kiosks

Description: some kiosks will be provided inside of universities, colleges, shopping centers and cinemas. The idea is to bring State Farm’s to the places where the Young Adults spend much time, instead of waiting for them to look for State Farm. In this kiosks, there will be agents to respond questions and if demanded starting anyone process of contracting an auto insurance service. Also, there will be available: Wi-‐Fi networks, plugs to charge the batteries of the computer or cell phone and music’s to download from the “Right On” Digital Radio.

7) Supporting causes

Description: As we described before, the Young Adults are one of the targets most involved in fatal car crashes in US. Because of this, we recommend that State Farm support or sponsor some projects focused in decreasing the number of car crashes in people with ages between 18 and 25, such as: Oprah's No Phone Zone (campaign to help make the roads safer for everyone).

PHASE 3

Mass communication ⏐After involving straight the target and some influencers in Phase 2, it is time to reach a big amount of people. For

this, we recommend the following tools:

1) State Farm FM

Description: Complementing the online radio placed in the “Right On” website, we suggest that State Farm creates its own radio station. This is especially important, if we consider that the target spends a big part of their time inside of their cars.

Some contests that will be broadcasted by the radio are:

. Real time traffic alerts and traffic reports;

. Guide of the hottest events news, such as: concerts, cinemas, parties, exhibitions, and so on;

. Benefits offered by State Farm, such as tickets discounts available in the “Right On” website;

. Top music hits

. Teaser for the State Farm’s TV Contest (as we are going to describe later) and other medias or actions developed by State Farm.

2) Segmented magazines

Description: State Farm should be focusing on the magazine advertisement to reach out to the young adult market because although this specific age group is not keen on reading they have great interest towards magazines which interest them. Male consumers are greatly interested in sports and cars and

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there are many magazines that are good mediums to reach to these people, same with the female consumers who are more interested in gossip, fashion beauty magazines. Some of the magazines that State Farm should advertise on are Road&Track, FHM, GQ, Playboy, which are basically read by the age group we are targeting. And a well placed eye catching ad will help us a lot in order to attract these male consumers. For female consumers Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Us Weekly are might be some of the examples where State Farm can reach to the potential customers.

3) Online media efforts

Description: Internet is the main source that State Farm can reach to these Young Adult customers. Ads on search engines such as Google and Yahoo, be it a banner or a whole page ad. As we described above, the use of social network sites are crucial because there are hundreds of millions of people that interact with each other through these sites and to be located in the heart of this stream will benefit our company greatly in order to reach our target market. We also have to be in the internet stream channels such as youtube, hulu etc. as well as internet radios which mostly are used by the young generation. Online games and interactive games in social network sites are hugely popular and we are thinking of creating a game in social network sites where you are a valet trying to park cars in the parking lot without hitting and as quick as possible. It’s a really fun game that youngsters enjoy and the marketing side to the game comes when you accidentally hit a car in the game, State Farm ad pops out, saying that “ In trouble? “ and

then explains how State Farm can help people in such occasions.

4) State Farm TV Contest

Description: the participants will be supposed to write their real stories talking about a situation involving the benefits offered by State Farm and how they felt “cool” about it. The top 2 submissions will be selected and will be shot by a film producer, resulting each one in 30 seconds TV commercials that will be aired as State Farm’s auto insurance commercial with the signature: “Right On”.

Also, all the submitted histories will be published in the “Right On” website, where they can be read and ranked by the visitors.

Website site

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PART 3:

Media +

Non-media Plans

Media Plan

After defining all the tools presented in the IMC Plan, it is time to distribute all of them all long the campaign’s period, in way

to follow the 3 phases described above and avoid period without reaching the target.

As we recommended media and non-‐media tolls, we divided both plans like presented below:

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Non-media Plan

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PART 3:

EvaluationPHASE 4

Evaluation of the campaign ⏐Did the campaign result in growing through new Young Adult Auto policies? By using some metrics,

we will try to request this question and other related to the campaign. First of all, it is important to consider that it is very difficult to calculate exactly which of the medias or non-‐medias suggested as responsible specifically for each 0.1% of increase. As we are talking about a IMC Plan, the group of communication tools will be responsible together to reach the target, deliver them a unique perception and luckily turn them into State Farm’s new clients.

One good thing to start the “Evaluation” process is measuring State Farm’s situation in the exactly moment before the “Right On” campaign starts (April 30, 2010). By doing this, when we reach the last day of the campaign (April 30, 2011), we will be able to compare both results and plan the next steps.

Finally, some of the tools that we recommended can help in calculating with more accuracy the results of the campaign, by using specific metrics, such as:

- Right On website: Google Analytics

-Ticket discounts: number of tickets printed

- Digital radio: number of musics downloaded

- Kiosks: number of new clients acquired

-‐State Farm TV Contest: number of participants submitted

-Cell phone app: number of downloads

-Social media: number of new fans or followers

-"Secure Driver": number of taxis required

-Bus party: number of people that participate in this benefit.

Business

State Farm - IMC Plan