State Farm has the largest network of agents among all auto insurers, but they have lost their cachet amidst a highly commoditized market. To help regain relevancy, we needed to change the conversation around insurance from price to customer service. To break through the conventions of the category, we reframed the State Farm agent’s assist advantage through a context that was meaningful and culturally relevant to our audience: professional basketball.

We introduced Cliff Paul, the fictional identical twin brother of two-time NBA assist leader Chris Paul, as a State Farm agent that was born to assist. The “Born to Assist” campaign leveraged a playful, yet powerful, analogy between Cliff and Chris that demonstrated the value of having State Farm through a celebrated playmaker.

We cast two-time NBA assist leader Chris Paul to play Cliff Paul, his identical twin brother who’s also born to assist, but as a State Farm agent. Cliff was brought to life on TV, in social, and on the ground. During All-Star Weekend, we had Chris and Cliff make a special side-by-side cameo for the 8m fans watching the NBA. We encouraged fans to participate in the campaign by distributing Cliff Paul disguise kits and fatheads at select Clippers games. Our goal was to create conversation that would drive brand favorability and consideration.

Cliff Paul took the nation by storm. 'Born to Assist' helped drive 15% growth in auto policies to date. It has ignited tremendous intrigue across culture, and helped the brand break through the otherwise cluttered world of sports sponsorships. Nike is even producing a limited-edition Cliff Paul sneaker. The character proved to be worthy of thousands of conversations:

- @CliffPaul has over 24,000 followers and within minutes of the commercial launch became a trending topic on Twitter.

- The commercial was viewed over 500,000 times in the first week of launch.

- Cliff Paul has generated over 400m total Twitter impressions.