From basketball and tennis to hockey and American football, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the games we love were being postponed, pushed back or altogether canceled.

In a typical year, Allstate sponsors college football games and donates money to schools’ general scholarship funds for each field goal kicked. So, as a champion of sports, we aimed to keep the spirit of competition and those donations alive.

The Allstate #GoodHandsChallenge: a simple, engaging paper football game that let anyone participate. In a modern twist on the classic game, users folded a paper football, flicked it, then shared video of it to challenge friends on social media.

The campaign was kicked off by ESPN football analyst, Kirk Herbstreit, who challenged influencers and celebrity friends. Those friends challenged friends, who challenged other friends.

For each user video shared, we donated money to general college scholarship funds – just like our real-world Good Hands® Field Goal Net Program.

In order to get college football fans to participate in our program, we tapped into football celebrities, football and entertainment influencers and micro-influencers, as well as hyper-targeted messaging on social media that stirred college football rivalries.

This approach allowed for relevant, natural-feeling messaging, encouraging participation.

The five week program (November 21 to December 17, 2020) began with ESPN football analyst, Kirk Herbstreit and influencer-created content to inspire users to make their own like-minded videos challenging others.

Supporting pushes came from Allstate's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels along with hyper-targeted messages aimed at college fanatics.

• 254 million total impressions

• 5.3 million impressions via influencers

• 1.3 million engagements driven from social media influencers

• 255% growth in awareness, over Financial Services benchmarks (6.2 pt lift)

• 800 semesters of college scholarships, courtesy of the Good Hands® Field Goal Net Program

• 97.8% positive sentiment on earned media