SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE2010 NSAC State Farm Campaign

The Great Sphinx in Egypt is carved out of rock. It has the head of a Pharaoh and the body of a lion, representing wisdom and strength.

Carbondale is the heart of “Little Egypt” in Southern Illinois. It is the home to Southern Illinois University, the Salukis, and Sphinx Advertising.

Sphinx measures and defines success by building relationships with clients and providing innovative solutions to their challenges. In the spirit of our namesake, we believe that the best ideas come from a synergistic blend of integrated marketing communications.

Brains and brawn. Youthfulness and yearning. Intelligence and instinct. Learning and living. It is our belief that each of these elements are fundamental in creating an invigorating and successful campaign.

Delivering strong results and powerful ideas, we are Sphinx Advertising - an Integrated Marketing Agency.

SPHINX ADVERTISING

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Introduction

Situation Analysis

S.W.O.T. Analysis

Primary Research

Strategy

Media

Evaluations

The case study provided by State Farm directed us to develop an integrated marketing communications plan targeted at men and women aged 18-25. This new supplementary campaign will run alongside the existing State Farm campaign. Emphasis is placed on creating media that will focus on selling auto and renters insurance. The budget for the campaign is $40 million.

Research To ensure that the campaign resonates with our target market, Sphinx Advertising collected extensive primary research. Sphinx conducted a survey that solicited the opinions of approximately 300 college students in order to understand their insurance buying habits, knowledge of insurance companies and media usage. In addition to the survey, we conducted a focus group to understand their attitudes, interests and opinions. The research insights served as vital inputs for this strategy.

StrategySphinx Advertising proposes the Community Square campaign that highlights the trustworthiness and credibility of State Farm while presenting the messages in a language that indentifies with 18-25 year olds. The strategy utilizes multiple touchpoints to reach the four segments of target audience in an effective and efficient manner.

TouchpointsTelevision and billboards will be the first wave of media used for image building, while The Edit4Credit competition on YouTube will launch the social media campaign. State Farm will sponsor FIFA World Cup United States and Mexico matches, and the semifinals and finals will screen in movie theaters across the 50 largest markets of our target audience. State Farm will also award 2,000 insurance policies to students in financial need with above average GPAs. In addition, other campaign elements have been chosen to ensure that State Farm maintains their legacy customers as well as attain new ones.

MediaThe recommended media strategy reflects the media consumption of our target market. It emphasizes traditional media for image building and reach, while implementing non-traditional media to build frequency and target specific segments of their audience. The campaign will be evaluated at different stages to gauge its effectiveness, and corrective actions will be taken if necessary.

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30 References

31 Acknowledgements

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Brand PromiseState Farm understands that nothing’s more important than being there: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

Brand ToneState Farm takes their role as a Good Neighbor very seriously. This permeates their beliefs and actions and sets the tone for the kinds of communication that are brand appropriate.

A Good Neighbor• Acts inclusively and makes people feel welcomed, valued and accepted• Is honest, looks out for your best interests, and has your back• Does not exclude, alienate or disparage• Does not poke fun at others but is certainly willing to share a good joke• Never makes people feel excluded with excessive violence or innuendos that might offend

Sphinx Advertising conducted intensive primary and secondary research in order to understand the insurance marketing environment and State Farm’s target audience. The following sections contain the important research findings unveiled through secondary research (situation analysis and S.W.O.T. analysis) and primary research (survey and focus groups).

INTRODUCTION

Synopsis of Case Study

Research

State Farm Insurance is the sponsor of the 2010 National Student Advertising Competition. State Farm is currently the leading property and casualty insurance company in the United States.

This case study calls for the development of a national communications campaign to target State Farm’s undersaturated market among young adults aged18-25. This campaign focuses on automobile and renters insurance and will supplement State Farm’s current message of always being there. It will relay messages of dependability by enhancing agent/customer relations and overall better identify with its desired customer base.

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SituationAnalysis

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Company Analysis

Consumer Analysis

State Farm is a group of insurance and financial service companies. It is currently ranked 31st among Fortune 500 companies. The company is headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, and its primary focus is on automobile insurance.

State Farm was founded in 1922 by retired farmer and insurance salesman George Jacob “G.J.” Mecherle. Mecherle knew that farmers were on the road substantially less than others, and therefore had fewer accidents. It was his belief that everyone deserved a fair price and claim settlement. His current employer did not share his beliefs; he decided to begin his own business, and thus State Farm was born.

State Farm has always been a leader in safety. In the 1920s, State Farm was the first insurance company to emphasize education to keep their customers safe. To this day, State Farm maintains their efforts to educate their customers about safety in the home, at work, and on the road. Today State Farm holds the most auto and home insurance policies totaling over 75 million. State Farm employs more than 17,000 agents across the U.S. and Canada.

Adults aged 46-54 represent the largest group of insurance policyholders, closely followed by those between the ages of 36-44. The 26-34 age group is not far behind. The smallest group of policyholders are young adults aged 18-25. Gender has no significant effect on consumer buying of insurance policies.

MRI data reports that Caucasians are nearly seven times more likely to be insured by State Farm than members of other ethnic groups. Asians, Native Americans, and Native Alaskans represent the smallest group of policyholders. Married couples are twice as likely to hold insurance policies as those who have never been married. Parents with children aged 12-17 make up the largest group of policyholders. Most are employed in sales and office occupations. The average household income of State Farm policyholders lies in the $75,000-$150,000 range.

There are more policyholders in the South than in other regions in the U.S. There are more policyholders in heavily populated A and B counties than in more scarcely populated C and D counties. A counties are those located in the 25 largest U.S. cities. B counties are those with a population of more than 150,000, which do not qualify as A counties. This means that people living in large metropolitan areas are more likely to have State Farm insurance than people who live in smaller communities. Homeowners, and those who have lived at their current address for five or more years are also far more likely to be insured by State Farm.

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Competitive AnalysisAllstate, Progressive and Geico are State Farm’s leading competitors. MRI Data suggests that State Farm Insurance is falling behind its competitors among their target audience.

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State Farm’s primary competitor is Allstate. Allstate is easily recognizable because of their attractive, well-spoken representative that creates an alluring environment for potential customers. Their tagline “Are You In Good Hands?”, relays a message of relief and trust. Allstate has been using this advertising campaign since 2004, and it is the simplicity of their message that is so appealing.

Geico is State Farm’s second largest competitor. Their tagline is “Fifteen Minutes Could Save You 15% or More on Car Insurance.” There message is straightforward and communicates that a small commitment of time will lead to big savings with their insurance. While this message is clear, Geico’s commercials are not. The value of their message is

lost among their varying representatives. However, although their recent campaign advertisements demonstrate little relevance to their product, they are still able to maintain their top-of-mind recognition among consumers.

State Farm’s third strongest competitor is Progressive. Progressive has an aggressive marketing effort based upon price points through the use of their popular spokesperson named Flo.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Progressive is gaining market share. It currently has a market share of 7%, Geico’s market share is 8% and Allstate has a market share of 10%. State Farm currently leads the market with a share of 18%.

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MRI INDEX OF STATE FARM COMPETITORS

State Farm

Allstate

Geico

Progressive

Other18%

10%

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State Farm Market Share

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Product Analysis

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Since the company’s creation in 1922, State Farm has been one of the leaders in auto and home insurance. State Farm is currently the industry leader in auto insurance. The company exists on the basis that everyone should receive fair coverage and claim settlements, and to this day State Farm still maintains this philosophy. State Farm offers its customers an array of policies including auto, homeowners, condo, renters, life, business, boat, health, disability, and long-term care insurance. These types of insurances are based on how much or how little the customers are willing to spend. Furthermore, State Farm also provides group policies and discounts when purchasing multiple types of insurance. State Farm currently carries two types of insurance that are relevant to most 18-25 year olds, renters and auto insurance. Renters insurance is extremely beneficial to their target audience because while most landlords carry property insurance, they do not actually insure the renter’s property. For a low monthly fee, an 18-25 year old can insure everything from their Xbox to their laptop. The second type of insurance that is highly relevant to 18-25 year olds is auto insurance. Most young adults own cars and most states require that everyone is insured with at least liability coverage. State Farm works to offer affordable auto insurance with high levels of customer service.

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S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS

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Market leader for insurance industry

Strong brand awareness

High customer loyalty and retention

Wide network of agents across the U.S.

Deeper and sustained expansion among young adults

Utilize agents to form long-lasting relationships

Affordability of renters insurance

Increased use of social media

Perception that it is expensive

Under-penetrated among young adults

Poor brand recall

Lower share of media voice compared to Geico and Progressive

Competitors are more attractive to younger audiences

Economic slowdown

Financial outlay for natural catastrophes and disasters

Fickle nature of young audiences

strengths

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Indicate that price plays an important role

PRIMARY RESEARCH

48%

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Are insured under a higher guardian

70%

Indicate that trust and credibility are important

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Have auto insurance85.6%

Who Buys Auto Insurance?

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KEY FINDINGS

50% Are likely to change insurance if offered a better deal45% Prefer to buy insurance direct from an agent; 28% prefer to purchase through a website30% Individually purchased auto insurance

Target audience indicated that State Farm had • by far the highest credibility and trustworthiness quotient among all insurance companies

Auto insurance for 18-25 year olds are • predominantly purchased by their parents

Brand memorability tests for State Farm • commercials revealed very low recall

There is a widespread perception among our target • audience that renters insurance is very expensive

Target audience indicated that T.V. is still the best • option to promote insurance

Focus groups suggested that our target audience • spends an average of 40 minutes per day engaging in social media

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State Farm

Allstate

Progressive

Geico

Farmers

Nationwide

USAA

Liberty Mutual

Esurance

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19%10%

7%

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Market Share of Auto Insurance Companies

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Perception of State Farm Among Target Audience

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STRATEGY

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BRAND STRATEGY

Community SquareThe most important finding from the intensive research we conducted is the insight that our target audience is very socially active in real life as well as in the online world. Their online interactions through both web and mobile media are an extension of their real life conversations. These interactions serve as arenas for identifying common interest in news, sports and entertainment, among other topics.

Certain topics transcend from conversations between among a few people to greater levels of popularity. Topics could range from Obama making his March Madness selections to Kanye West humiliating Taylor Swift at the VMAs. This transition of topics from mundane to high popularity is what Sphinx Advertising calls the Community Square phenomenon.

Stages of the imc plan

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Sponsorship

Social Media

Public Relations

Television, Billboard, Office Space, Newspapers

Touchpoint

Image

FIFA World Cup

Social Networking Sites, User Generated Content Sites, Social News Sites

Philanthropy

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The Community Square is a platform for people to come together, share, discuss, and talk about issues and topics that are relevant and important to them.

Sphinx Advertising proposes a multifaceted brand strategy that will elevate State Farm from being just another insurance company to a company that becomes a part of the Community Square. Once this occurs, State Farm will be a company that is discussed at large because of its values, associations and partnerships.

This strategy divides consumer groups into four categories of State Farm customers: new, existing, legacy and switch. Switch refers to potential customers that can be persuaded to change from other insurance companies to State Farm.

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Communication Objectives

Marketing Objectives Primary

Achieve growth through new young adult auto • policies.

Secondary New young adult renters policies• Retention of legacy young adult policies• Rentention of current independent young • adult auto and renters customers

PrimaryTo establish • State Farm Auto Insurance among

our target audience as the most reliable agency that provides the best value and service Secondary

To build and maintain relationships with • existing independent and legacy young adult auto and renter policy holders

To inform our target audience about the value • of purchasing renters policies

Target AudienceThe primary target for this campaign consists of independent 18-25 year olds who are generally not concerned with insurance and have a limited disposable income.

These tech-savvy individuals are hard to reach, but enthusiastic about music, sports and social networking. Message ThemeThe image campaign will emphasize State Farm’s existing message of always ‘being there’ for their customers.

SupportState Farm’s extensive network of insurance agents from all over the country will never fail a customer in their time of need. ToneThe tone of this campaign will use elements of humor that highlight the unpredictable realities of our daily lives, paired with the assurance of having State Farm as the leading, dependable insurance company.

Television, Billboard, Office Space, Newspapers

FIFA World Cup

Social Networking Sites, User Generated Content Sites, Social News Sites

Philanthropy

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CREATIVE BRIEF

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1. Parents and young adult walk up to State Farm office.2. Meet and greet with the State Farm insurance Agent.3. Sit down in office; young adult sits in between parents. 4. Insurance agent explains automobile insurance.5. Insurance agent smiles and slides the paper to sign towards the young adult.6. Parents look at each other and have flashbacks to: a. Signing marriage certificate. b. Buying a car and getting car insurance. c. Having a child and getting life insurance. d. Renting a home and getting renters insurance.7. Before signing insurance papers, young adult has flashsbacks of: a. Learning how to ride a bike. b. Going to first day of school. c. Receiving their first drivers’ license.8. Young adult comes back to reality, smiles and signs the paper.9. Parents and young adult shake hand with insurance agent.

Newspaper advertisements will be utilized in our campaign. Advertisements will be placed in the top 100 college newspapers throughout the country.

These ads will focus primarily on State Farm renters insurance. Renters insurance is an important product for our target because while they are cost conscious; their valuables are generally expensive. The ads are designed to appeal to the consumer’s lifestyle. They play on the fact that things would just not be the same if the consumer were to lose their belongings.

The auto insurance ad plays upon the fact that nothing would be the same if it were not up to the consumer’s standards. Overall, the advertisements’ primary goal is to remind consumers that for a low monthly fee, they can have piece of mind.

Concept for TV Image Spot

College NewspapersThe first stage of the Community Square strategy is an image building campaign that will portray State Farm as a company that is easily identifiable and memorable to their target audience. To implement this strategy, we suggest commercials on TV, the web, billboards in high traffic areas, as well as a modest upgrade of agent’s offices.

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IMAGE CAMPAIGN

It’s Just Not the Same, Is It?At State Farm we’ll make sure things get back to normal. Choose State Farm

and enjoy the benefits of coverage for your automobile. Who knows... you

might even get a second date. Visit StateFarm.com to learn more today!

It’s Just Not the Same, Is It?With State Farm we’ll make sure things get back to normal. Choose State Farm and for only $10 a month you will never miss another movie night again. Now we give that two thumbs up. Visit StateFarm.com to learn more today!

It’s Just Not the Same, Is It?At State Farm we’ll make sure things get back to normal. Choose State Farm and for only $10 a month you can enjoy security in your home and social life. You do the cooking; we’ll do the rest. Visit StateFarm.com to learn more today!

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Outdoor AdvertisingOutdoor advertising will be necessary in order to further improve upon State Farm’s brand awareness. Visual, eye-catching billboards, along with easily recognizable signage placed strategically in areas highly trafficked by State Farm’s target audience will aid in improving State Farm’s top-of-mind awareness among a younger audience.

BillboardsBillboards will be placed in high-traffic areas across the United States near busy intersections. This placement was chosen so that drivers stopped in traffic will easily spot State Farm’s billboards while awaiting a green light. In addition, the billboards will be placed alongside interstates stemming from major universities and college towns because the majority of State Farm’s target audience is working to complete a degree.

It is essential that State Farm’s billboards are very visually appealing so that they will not go unnoticed by drivers on the road. Two billboards will be featured – one that applies to automobile insurance and one that applies to renters insurance. Both versions will have a crisp, white background and red text as well as State Farm’s logo so that the company’s association with their chosen colors will not be lost.

Automobile InsuranceThe State Farm automobile insurance billboard will look similar to the image shown above. It will be in 3D, as it will feature an actual car that has previously been wrecked. The car will be positioned on the left side of the provided space to appear as if it crashed through the billboard. The headlights will be turned on and a tire will hang from the billboard to make the advertisement even more visually appealing. The text for this billboard simply says, “Good thing State Farm is here” to convey the message that there is less for a driver to worry about if he/she is insured with State Farm.

Renters InsuranceThe renters insurance billboard’s primary focus is also one visual appeal. The left side of the billboard will feature a house that is on fire. The flames from the house will extend above the top of the billboard and be brightly colored with lights. As with the auto insurance billboard, the text will read, “Good thing State Farm is here.” IM

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SignageLarge signage will be created in the form of a mosaic of State Farm’s current logo. The mosaic will include headshots of State Farm’s agents pieced together to comprise State Farm’s logo. This signage will be placed in areas regularly frequented by 18-25 year olds including malls, airports and popular concert venues. This signage will also be used on transit advertising including placement on subways, trains, trolleys, buses and bus stops.

The signage will also be placed on the windows of agent’s offices or inside the agent’s office where window space is not available. This will aid in increasing brand awareness of State Farm and the mosaic of the agent’s within the logo relays the message that State Farm is personable.

In today’s generation, image is key. Our target audience responds positively to sleek, modern and contemporary designs. An agent’s office that incorporates a clean, stylish and inviting atmosphere indicates that State Farm takes pride in their image and how they present themselves to potential and existing consumers.

Office Space

Sphinx Advertising suggests a reinvention of State Farm offices in close proximity of the top 100 colleges. These offices will be provided with a sleek, white desk that incorporates the State Farm logo on a pearl backlit sign located on the front of the desk.

A large flat screen television will be mounted on the wall in front of the contemporary design. This television will continuously play the most recent State Farm commercials. A high tech, touch screen kiosk will be placed in the forefront of the office. This kiosk will offer clients the option of evaluating and comparing prices of State Farm insurance to their competitor’s rates. Customers will also be provided with the option of viewing State Farm’s latest Edit4Credit videos.

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Community Square as suggested by Sphinx Advertising incorporates a multipronged approach to social media. Our ultimate objective is to have as much State Farm online content go viral as possible. State Farm will achieve this through social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter, user generated content sites like YouTube, as well as popular social news sites such as Digg, Riddit, and Stumble Upon. Once State Farm’s online content has been highly popularized and has reached audiences within each category of social media, the content can be considered viral.

Social NetworkingThe popularity of social media has exploded in recent years, and State Farm’s target audiences are the primary users of social media. Facebook and Twitter are the two most popular social networking sites that exist. Every State Farm agent will be required to have a Facebook fan page as well as a username on Twitter and update their pages frequently. Customers will be invited by e-mail and direct mail to “become a fan” of their State Farm agent on Facebook and to “follow” their agent on Twitter. If customers do choose to befriend their agent on Facebook or Twitter, they will qualify for special discounts offered by State Farm. This contact via social networking will make it easier for the target audience to stay up-to-date with their represenative and will also allow for the opportunity to view their agent on a more personable level than a monotonous agent/customer relationship. State Farm’s promise is to be “like a good neighbor,” and social networking allows agents to build a stronger relationship with their clients through this measure.

User Generated ContentTo make people more aware of State Farm through the web, we will expand on our user generated content. This will happen by getting people to mention State Farm in their blogs and video blogs. The more people mention State Farm, the more recognizable it becomes to our audience. This leads to State Farm becoming recognized on social news sites like Digg, Riddit, and Stumble Upon.

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YouTube Edit4Credit

State Farm will purchase a video channel on YouTube where users can submit their videos to the Edit4Credit competition. These videos will mock current and past popular news and entertainment stories. The users will submit their videos, and the public will vote for their favorite. This campaign will run through the months of November-February 2010-11, and the public will select monthly winners. The first prize wins $10,000, $5,000 for the second and $2,000 for the third. There will also be a grand prize winner who will be awarded $50,000 and an all expense paid trip to the 83rd Academy Awards.

During the Edit4Credit competition, State Farm will purchase a homepage takeover on YouTube, in which the homepage skin will become a State Farm logo. This will happen once at the beginning of the and prize winner is taking place in February.

Teaser campaigns will run on T.V. channels such as E!, MTV, VH1, BET, and ESPN. These spots will urge viewers to visit the State Farm current news channel on YouTube and vote for their favorite videos.

Popular videos on the State Farm YouTube news channel will also be popularized through social news networks such as Digg.com, Reddit.com, and StumbleUpon.com.

Kim Kardashian on TwitterState Farm will also form an agreement with celebrity Kim Kardashian in which Kim will post tweets about the company. Kim has over 3 million followers on Twitter - more than any other celebrity using the social networking site. The majority of her followers are between the ages of 18-25. Kim would be a great resource for promoting State Farm’s Edit4Credit YouTube competition because her tweets reach such a large audience.

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Landing Pages

The landing pages will be linked with Google AdWords. Anytime someone searches for “car insurance”, “auto insurance”, “renters insurance” or any keywords of this nature, the new landing pages will contain the traditional State Farm logo made out of the mosaic of agents. Whenever a user scrolls over the logo, a new agent will pop out. Along with the agent’s photo, there will be a short bio along with their contact information. This allows the user to get better acquainted with the agents who are within the closest proximity. The new landing pages are more user friendly and easy to navigate.

Google AdwordsThese are examples of common State Farm phrases that search results will provide via Google as top research terms.

Keywords“renters insurance”“renters insurance quotes”“best insurance coverage”“auto insurance”“automobile insurance”“auto insurance quotes”“automobile insurance quotes”“quality insurance”“state farm insurance”“neighbor”“dependability”“insurance quotes”“renters insurance costs”

“auto insurance costs”“edit4credit”“cool videos”“kim kardashian”“popular videos”“trustworthy”“insurance”“inexpensive renters insurance”“full-coverage”“cheap renters insurance”“always there”“free quotes”“relationship”

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During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, State Farm will sponsor a nationwide viewing of the USA and Mexico matches, as well as the semi-finals and final matches of the World Cup. Throughout the U.S., State Farm will rent out 50 movie theatres in the major urban areas where soccer is likely to be watched.

Tickets for the viewings will be distributed to winners of an online sweepstakes that will be featured on the State Farm website. Participants will be required to submit details of their current insurance usage and contact information. Winners will be sent an e-mail to easily access their tickets. Each winner will be allocated two tickets.

This promotion also appeals to our target audience among the Hispanic community where soccer plays a dominant role in their culture.

SPONSORSHIPS AND PARTNERSHIPS

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PUBLIC RELATIONS

State Farm’s mission is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. State Farm believes that education is key to achieving any dream. One of the company’s most important values is education. State Farm supports efforts that allow students to reach their greatest potential and develop valuable leadership skills. The company focuses on academic excellence in higher education. With today’s economy, State Farm wants to lend a helping hand to college students to help pay for their insurance. State Farm will award free insurance to 2,000 deserving college students every year who obtain a grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or higher and who have an annual household income of less than $50,000.

Applicants will need to visit their local State Farm agent’s office to complete forms and apply for this award. This initiative will be publicized through social media networks, as well as through posters in student financial aid offices on universities, and through print ads in college newspapers.

State Farm will also publicize these awards through the use of public relations in popular news outlets. A press release will be sent before the announcement of the application process and also after the awards have been distributed. This exercise will showcase the philanthropic side of State Farm and that they put to practice their slogan.

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Financial PlannerA number of State Farm clients are legacy customers. These young adults have State Farm insurance because they are on their parents’ policy. As they finish school and begin their adult lives, many of them will move away from home and be removed from their parent’s policies. It will be their responsibility to find a policy that suits them. They will be faced with two options: stay with State Farm or switch to another agency. Our plan to retain customers will begin with their parents. In the mail, parents will receive a notification encouraging that their children stay with State Farm to receive a 5% discount on their insurance policy. This will give the parents the incentive to persuade their children to stay with State Farm. Parents have a better chance of persuading their children than any form of media.

Since not everyone attends college, we will extend this offer to all parents of young adults between 18-25 years of age. This is the age when most young adults leave home and begin to handle

their own financial responsibilities. State Farm will also create a financial planner. This planner will be sent out to the parents of young adults who are about to graduate from high school and college. The planner will help recent graduates keep track of their finances as they venture out into the world. The cover will display a picture money trees along side a road. The planner will feature a calendar/daily planner to include a list of seminars to attend and a tool to help keep track of accounts and purchases.

The first page of the planner will feature a “My State Farm” section that will contain contact information about the customer’s personal agent and local State Farm office. In the back of the book, there will be a coupon page with discounts for auto-related services such as car washes, oil changes, etc.

Financial Planner Cover

Financial Planner Inside Cover

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License PlateFor our existing customers, State Farm will contact them through direct mail, informing them of our new, loyalty discount. The envelope will inform the users of how they can start saving 5% off their yearly insurance fees if they allow State Farm to place a company license cover over their license plate. It will reassure the customer that it is for their most loyal customers and how State Farm wants to give them every opportunity to save.

Through a random campus poll at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, we found that 2 out of 3 students would keep the license plate cover, leading us to disregard the remaining 33% who said they would remove the plate once they left the office.

In doing so, we will create greater brand awareness and strengthen the loyalty in our customers, increasing the chance in return on investment.

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Promotional GiveawaysState Farm agents will also be encouraged to host events in the community for their clients such as free barbeques and post information regarding the events on their Facebook and Twitter pages. In addition to posting about State Farm sponsored events, agents should also promote State Farm’s Edit4Credit video competition via their social networks. This will stream more viewers to State Farm’s YouTube channel and encourage more users to vote for their favorite videos!

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Media Allocations1) Reach 70% of target audience with a frequency of four times per month

2) Use mass media such as network television for the image campaign and use non-traditional items such as direct mailers and promotions to reach specific target segments

3) Use traditional mass media to reach a national audience and non-traditional media in the top 50 markets with a high concentration of our target market audience

4) Use a pulsing campaign schedule with peaks of high activity during events such as the NCAA tournament, NFL and award shows.

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MEDIA STRATEGY

Impressions Cost

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

Top 100 Billboards in the US 3,500,000 $3,480,000.00

College Publisher Network 300,000,000 $1,440,000.00

Hulu- Colbert Report 5,000,000 $1,600,000.00

Hulu- House 5,000,000 $1,600,000.00

Hulu- It's Always Sunny 5,000,000 $1,600,000.00

Hulu- The Office 5,000,000 $1,600,000.00

Hulu- Family Guy 5,000,000 $1,600,000.00

Hulu- The Simpsons 5,000,000 $2,400,000.00

Top 100 Mall Advertisements 3,394,500 $900,000.00

March Madness on Demand 3,000,000 $1,050,000.00

Youtube Homepage Buy 35,400,000 $800,000.00

Office Designs 200,000 $1,000,000.00

ABC.com 5,000,000 $1,800,000.00

Promotional Items 2,000,000 $1,000,000.00

FIFA screenings 26,800 $463,104.00

Network TV 22,800,000 $8,000,000.00

Cable TV 984,440,000 $8,000,000.00

Soccernet 5,000,000 $223,900.00

Kim Kardashian Twitter 2,700,000 $40,000.00

Spoof Campaign Prizes 800,000 $218,000.00

Newspapers 40,000,000 $1,000,000.00

Total 1,438,261,300 $39,815,004.00

Campaign CPM

$27.68

January February March December

MEDIA FLOWCHART

August September October NovemberApril May June July

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Evaluations

Measuring Marketing ObjectivesPrimary Objective: To achieve growth through new young adult auto policiesEvaluation: Examining growth in new policies will determine the levels of curiosity in our target audience.

Secondary Objective: Achieve growth in the following:-New young adult renters policies-Retention of legacy young adult auto policies (those young adults from an existing State Farm household)-Retention of current Independent Young Adult Auto and Renters customers

Evaluation: We will conduct brand performance studies in current and new customers by discovering where our competition has failed in the past.

Evaluating Creative ElementsConcept: Our creative strategy will be evaluated though examination via brand recognition. We will use quasi-experimental design to select our audience and use post-test examination to measure their recall of State Farm commercials and levels of participation in State Farm run contests. These tests will measure interactivity as well as our ability to persuade.

Measuring Media ObjectivesObjective: Reach 70% of our target audience with a frequency of 3-4 times per month.

Evaluations: Pre-tests-Post-test evaluations will be conducted periodically throughout our campaign in local malls. We will also measure the increase in online activity through click impressions and Edit4Credit spoof registrations.

Objective: To use mass media such as network television for the image and use non-traditional items such as direct mailers and promo-tions to reach specific target segments.

Evaluations: Quasi-experimental design will be conducted before, during, and after the campaign to measure the top-of-mind increase in our target audience. Separate focus groups will be used to measure direct mailers in potential and legacy customers to figure configure bet-ter marketing techniques.

Objective: Use mass media to reach national audience and non-traditional media in top 50 markets that have a high concentration of our target market audience.

Evaluations: Figures will be monitored on a monthly basis to check for consistency.

Objective: To use a pulsating campaign schedule with peaks of high activity during certain events such as NCAA tournaments, award show seasons and the NFL. Evaluations: Throughout the NCAA tournaments, award shows and football seasons, the figures will be monitored on a weekly basis to check for the activity levels during the events.

EVALU

ATIO

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REFERENCES

Allstatewww.allstate.com

Geicowww.geico.com

Gorman, B. (2009, September 18). Fx’s It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Draws 2.2 Million Avg. Viewers. Retrieved March 4, 2010, from http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/18/fxs-its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-draws-2-2-million-avg-viewers/27704

Gorman, B. (2010, March 10). In Race For 18-49 Ratings Bronze, ABC Is Within Reach of NBC. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/10/in-race-for-18-49-ratings-bronze-abc-is-within-reach-of-nbc/44535

Learmonth, M. (2009, December). Here’s Who Gets the Highest Ad Rates Online. Retrieved March 14, 2010, from http://www.busi-nessinsider.com/heres-who-gets-the-highest-ad-rates-online-2009-12

Macsai, D. (2009, October 7). Cut the Cable:All-time Top 10 TV Shows on Hulu. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.fastcom-pany.com/pics/cut-cable-all-time-top-10-tv-shows-hulu#5

Monthly Traffic. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.quantcast.com/youtube.com

Motor Insurance in the United States. (2009, August). Retrieved March 4, 2010, from Datamonitor (0072-0153).

Nielsen Television (TV) Ratings for Cable. (2010, March 21). Retrieved March 22, 2010, from http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-nielsen-cable,0,7538199,results.formprofile?SortBy=cdb_01_num+%2Ccdb_05_txt+&PageSize=50&Page=1&Query=*

Non-Life Insurance in the United States. (2009, October). Retrieved March 5, 2010, from Datamonitor (0072-0125).

Sphinx Advertising primary research

State Farm Insurance Homepagehttp://www.statefarm.com

Television. (2010, March). Retrieved March 20, 2010, from Nielsen.

U.S. Census Bureau

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This campaign was a true collaborative effort involving numerous departments across campus including:

School of Journalism, Dept. of Cinema and Photography, Dept. of Radio and Television, Dept. of Speech Communications, American Marketing Association, Saluki Advertising Agency, and Public Relations Student Society of America.

We are extremely grateful to Ms. Karen Waldron, and Ms. Sherida Evans at the School of Journalism for their help in organizing our trip and representing Southern Illinois University Carbondale at NSAC. We would like to thank our professors, Prof. Linda Correll,

Prof. Vicki Kreher, Prof. William Freivogel, Prof. Dennis Lowry, Prof. Kathy Frith, Prof. Kavita Karan, Prof. Jerry Bush in the School of Journalism for laying a strong foundation towards our future careers in advertising.

We would like to extend a special thanks to Dean Gary Kolb, Ron Graves, Clare Mitchell, and the JRNL 301 students.

AAF Officers

President: Jenna SmithCo-President: Kristina Kaganer

NSAC Members

Brittany Johnson Andrea Likes

Lara Nederveen PieterseAriel Runyon

Krystal SaulsberryMelahnie Springfield

Dan Sokolowski

Special thanks to our faculty advisor Prof. Narayanan Iyer

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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