State Farm Enters the Sports Sponsorship Marketplace
State Farm Insurance and sports sponsorships — who would have ever thought? While the company may be one of the world’s biggest advertisers, entering the sports arena is putting the company on an entirely new playing field.
This past fall State Farm bought the naming rights for the home venues of both the Arizona Cardinals (State Farm Stadium) and the Atlanta Hawks (State Farm Arena). While the company had previously relied on network television as their primary method of advertising, the ever-changing media landscape has caused State Farm to seek out new, more exciting and more permanent ways to promote itself.
“Our world has changed,” stated Rand Harbert, State Farm’s Chief Agency and Marketing Officer. “We have depended so much on traditional media here, and it’s been good to us, but as traditional media continues to change, and we’ve been a part of that change, so too does digitization and how you reach millennial customers.”
State Farm also likes the idea of having an increased brand presence in two of their major hubs — Atlanta and Arizona which also happen to lie in two different time zones. Additionally, State Farm now boasts the naming rights for two of the fastest growing sports, the NFL and NBA.
“The fact that these came open, in two leagues and two markets that we care about, really was a luck and timing thing,” stated Harbert.
And just this week, State Farm announced that it would be sponsoring one of the biggest and most well-known voices names in eSports, DrLupo (Benjamin Lupo). DrLupo has seen his eSports career flourish as he has one of the most recognizable voices in Fortnite streaming.
What exactly is Fortnite? Fornite is a hugely popular eSports game. At the beginning of last year the game had around 45 million active players across all platforms, and that number is only going to continue to increase. Additionally, individuals will tune in to watch other players compete on sites like YouTube and Twitch. The games reach an astonishing amount of fans and therefore so is the voice of DrLupo.
His success is two-fold, using both his personality as a caster for Fortnite and talent as a player, he has been able to amass a following of almost 3 million on Twitch. Last year he even held a charity streaming event for St. Jude’s Hospital that raised $1.3 million.
“DrLupo is one of the world’s most followed Fortnite streamers,” stated State Farm Marketing Director Ed Gold. “His philanthropic efforts and massive fanbase make him an ideal partner as we continue to amplify our esports programming and efforts with the gaming community.”
So why did State Farm think this first-of-its-kind eSports athlete sponsorship made sense? For starters, the average age of viewers on and content creators of Fortnite are higher than average. DrLupo himself is married with a child, and both frequently make appearances on his stream. Therefore, DrLupo’s viewership tends to be of the age where they are in need of insurance.
The sponsorship deal will include a plethora of activations including live-streaming product placement live-streaming from an event, branded replays, through branded replays, various social content and sponsored giveaways.
“Being given the opportunity to work with State Farm is, without a doubt, huge,” Lupo said in a release. “I couldn’t imagine a better company to work with, and I’m excited to see what we can do together in the future.”
However, an even more significant benefit to State Farm is that DrLupo’s interaction with his audience is authentic. For streamers to remain popular, they must understand their audience as most have become numb to standard advertising techniques. The fact that viewers can interact in real-time through chat with such a popular and trusted individual as DrLupo at the same time gives State Farm credibility and relatability.
If State Farm can harness that authenticity, they can then translate it to influence the impact of the brand across the world. The idea is to reach an entirely new demographic through a stable and meaningful partnership. Brand awareness coupled with a flourishing sports marketplace give State Farm the perfect platform to reach an entirely new audience.