The idea of NBA fans coveting sneakers styled by a fictional insurance agent was preposterous. But in the highly commoditized world of insurance, that’s exactly what we set out to do.

A year prior, we cast NBA’s Chris Paul as his State Farm agent twin, Cliff. Hence, with “Born to Assist,” our campaign established a powerful analogy between Chris' exemplary play and the advantage of State Farm service.

This season, we went one audacious step further, having the brothers collaborate on a signature footwear line that went beyond the token marketing stunt – and created something fans would actually want to buy.

Our success with Cliff inspired a footwear line – typically the purview of superstars like, well, Chris Paul – as an unprecedented way to engage fans around insurance.

The brothers posted stories of collaboration, while the “Worn to Assist” spot teased availability of CP3s in Cliff’s signature argyle, available for fans to customize on NIKEiD. Exclusive socks were given to fans that tweeted to win at select Clippers games.

Exclusive argyle infiltrated All-Star Weekend: delighted kids at Chris’ CP3 Foundation event, rewarded top Jam Session attendees, and amplified on-air integrations as Cliff presented shoes to the TNT broadcast team.

TV and social media told the story of the brothers’ collaboration – igniting speculation on the sneaker becoming a reality. Conversation about the shoe grew Cliff’s Instagram following by 900% and over 19MM social impressions with 90% positive sentiment within the first week.

Argyle CP3s became available on NIKEiD, and to date we’ve driven 78K designs via State Farm’s clickable digital media. Exclusive pairs were presented to TNT commentators on air, kicking off the NBA Challenge at All-Star Weekend. This propelled Cliff’s trending on Twitter and generated over 30K social conversations, netting the campaign an estimated 87MM in audience overall.

Virtually every sports promotion is built around name recognition – logo-adorned Frisbees, key chains, and travel mugs – yielding awareness, but not relevant demonstrations of why a brand matters.

The “Born to Assist” campaign was fundamentally rooted in a metaphor for service, giving prospects a fantastic taste of the confidence that comes when you have a State Farm agent.

The “Worn to Assist” promotion further extended our campaign authentically – to something our audience could actually touch – and reset expectations for how best to leverage consumer passion for context to tell brand stories.