Strategy
Farmers Plants Seeds With Targeted Groups Through New Deals
Farmers is the second company to sign a jersey sponsorship with a WNBA team since the league opened the inventory to sponsors this year.
: As it prepares to significantly grow its business through a key acquisition–and looking to gain a point of differentiation in the highly competitive property/casualty insurance category–Farmers Group, Inc. is expanding its sponsorship portfolio to reach niche market segments.
The Zurich Financial Services subsidiary signed a multiyear jersey sponsorship with the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks earlier this month.
In addition, Farmers served as title of a Yates Racing entry at the Feb. 21 Auto Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Fontana, Calif., and earlier this year expanded its involvement with the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, with status as official insurance and official supporter of Rose Parade bands. The insurer has sponsored a float in the parade for 50 years.
The new activity comes as Farmers prepares for a major growth spurt. The company in April announced a $1.9 billion acquisition of American Int’l Group, Inc.’s personal auto insurance business, which sells directly to consumers and through independent agents under the 21st Century Insurance Co. name.
The deal, which is expected to close later this year, will push Farmers past The Progressive Corp. and GEICO to become the country’s third-largest auto insurer, according to A.M. Best Co.
The deal will expand Farmers’ direct sales channel and increase the company’s presence in the Eastern U.S., a “key target market for future Farmers growth,” according to a company statement.
Focus On Specific Market Segments Drives Deals
Farmers views sponsorship as a way to demonstrate its community involvement, with a focus on engaging its more than 15,000 exclusive and independent agents.
“Farmers is about the community, and giving back to the community, our agents and customers,” said Faye McClure, Farmers’ vice president of strategic marketing.
The company focuses on properties that reach African-Americans, Asians, Latinos and other population segments. Farmers partnered with the Sparks to reach women, one of the company’s newer targeted groups.
While the insurer was drawn to the team in part because of its proximity to Farmers’ Los Angeles headquarters, it views the tie as a national marketing platform due to the jersey sponsorship.
“What made it even more attractive is that the Sparks reach a primary demographic in our marketing strategy–the women’s market–not only in Los Angeles, but throughout our operating territory,” said Kevin Kelso, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, in a statement.
As with its other sponsorships, Farmers will activate the tie through its agents, as well as link it to other sponsored properties. For example, the company plans to leverage its extensive involvement in high school sports by hosting high school basketball or sports nights at WNBA games throughout the league’s 13 markets.
The insurer will further activate the Sparks deal to support its longstanding partnership with the March of Dimes. It is running a We Assist You Assist promotion asking consumers to make a donation tied to the number of assists the team makes throughout the season. Farmers will match the total raised from fans.
“Tying in relationships we have in place with the Sparks is important,” McClure said, noting that the company last year raised more than $4.8 million dollars for March of Dimes through its Be a Hero for Babies campaign.
Farmers also will sponsor the team’s new Sparks in Motion program, aimed at combating childhood obesity. The company plans to activate by distributing educational DVDs at games.
The deal makes Farmers the second company to sign a jersey sponsorship with a WNBA team since the league opened the inventory to sponsors this year. It followed by three days LifeLock, Inc.’s jersey sponsorship of the WNBA Phoenix Mercury.
The insurer uses its two-year-old partnership with state high school athletic organizations to reach students and parents.
Farmers launched the program with a tie to the California Interscholastic Federation and has since expanded it with exclusive partnerships with 14 other state high school organizations–including those in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio–and media sponsorship with three others.
“The goal is to have ownership and engagement in this space, which we felt wasn’t occupied,” McClure said.
The company activates the ties through agents, who host in-school activities such as giving parents the opportunity to enroll children in the Managing Information on Lost Kids digital ID program.
Farmers also leverages its high school partnerships with the monthly Farmers Student Athlete Citizen Award honoring students who make a difference on the athletic field, in the classroom and in the community. Each honoree receives a plaque from a local Farmers agent and is featured in a 30-second vignette during regional Fox Sports Net programming.
To reach African-Americans, Farmers for the past three years has titled Los Angeles’ Angel City Classic football game, featuring teams from two Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The insurer leveraged last September’s game with a promotion that dangled a BMW 1 Series car in exchange for contact information and answers to questions about insurance needs.
In addition, the company this year signed to sponsor Uneven Fairways, a documentary film that showcases the history of African-Americans’ participation in golf.
Other multicultural ties include AFI Fest presented by Audi, the Los Angeles Latino Int’l Film Festival and the Smithsonian Institution’s Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon nationally touring exhibition that highlights the story of the Vietnamese-American experience from 1975 to the present.
Sources
Farmers Group, Inc., Tel: 323/932-3200