State Farm Punting On Super Bowl Advertising In Favor Of TikTok

This year's NFL playoffs broke hearts from San Francisco to New England as only the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams survived to meet in Super Bowl LVI.

State Farm was disappointed as well, as prized pitchmen and star QBs Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers fell victim to big playoff upsets. While the insurer loses visibility, State Farm had already decided to skip advertising in this year's big game in favor of a targeted TikTok campaign.

In fact, there doesn't appear to be any major insurance companies advertising in the Super Bowl, airing Sunday from Los Angeles. A 30-second ad is reportedly costing $7 million this year. Many of the commercials have already been released online.

NFL viewership for the 2021 regular season was up roughly 10% overall from the year prior, bringing in an average of 17.1 million viewers per game on TV and digital. That is the highest regular season average since 2015, according to the league. NFL games accounted for 48 of the top 50 and 91 of the top 100 most watched telecasts, CNN reported.

Courting The Young

Last year, State Farm jumped into the Super Bowl in a big way with it's first ad featuring actor Paul Rudd and singer Drake.

The insurance giant is zagging this year, taking its advertising machine in a creative new direction with a TikTok campaign. In a statement, State Farm said its agency partners at The Marketing Arm focused on TikTok “to meet the next generation of consumers by showing up where they’re spending their time and in spaces that they’re interested in.”

In the #TeamStateFarm challenger announced Jan. 24, TikTok users were invited to submit duet videos through Feb. 11. Jake, a popular State Farm personality, will pin the top three finalist videos to his TikTok page on Sunday. TikTok users will be able to vote on the three finalists through Feb. 17.

The creator of the winning video will receive a paid trip, for a meet and greet with Jake from State Farm and a role in an upcoming State Farm commercial, the insurer said. The winner will be announced in late February.

Active Shoppers

The State Farm flirtation with TikTok is not surprising given surveys like the one Transunion released in August finding a resurgence in auto insurance shopping by the younger millennial and Gen Z generations.

Millennials (born 1980 to 1994) and Gen Z (born 1995 to 2003) became more active shoppers over the course of 2021, the survey found, while the older boomer (born 1946 to 1964) and silent (born before 1946) generations became less active. That trend may be due to the high youth unemployment, which started dropping in 2021 as the economy recovered.

“Younger consumers who lost their jobs in 2020 may have subsequently left the auto insurance market altogether, but are now gradually returning as they take on new jobs and now have a need for coverage as their transportation requirements evolve," said Mark McElroy, executive vice president and head of TransUnion’s insurance business.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.