I now have great respect for State Farm Insurance. In the past week on Mizzou's campus, this company has provided me with a new pair of headphones, a free 15 minute massage, a car wash and an oxygen mood booster.
State Farm had a tent set up on Carnahan Quad/Tiger Plaza, which is the front part of our quad, all week. Earlier in the week, they were giving students rides to class on bicycle carriages for free (no tips accepted) as part of their Random Acts of Kindness campaign.
Quick pause: imagine being an insurance company and having the funding to give away two laptop computers, free massages all day, carriage rides, car washes, oxygen liquid and supplies, and people to staff this event for an entire week....all for your company's name. This was a PR campaign. They were not advertising anything new, they weren't retrieving student e-mail addresses (which if I were them, I would regret)..they were just spreading their name around through these random acts of kindness. And can pay the cost of 'getting your name out' by doing not one, but all of the above featured things. That's semi-ridiculous.
As a journalism (strategic communication) major, business minor and current marketing student, I was very interested in this campaign, and two core questions.
- Why all of these random acts of kindness?
- And why US? Why the University of Missouri in Columbia?
So I asked. The representatives that I asked wouldn't really get into detail and said "we're just doing random acts of kindness!"
My response- I see that. I'm wondering WHY. Are you trying to get your name out? Where else are you doing this? What's the deal? Why the big promotion?
Someone of more authority walked over and could finally hold a mature conversation. She said that it was a one-week plan to complete random acts of kindness (with State Farm paraphernalia everywhere, of course) at University of Missouri for one week and Oklahoma State University for another, as a branding event. As if I was dumb, she explained that they were branding the name so when our students think of a large company or brand, they'll think of State Farm Insurance. And maybe get insurance from there in the future.
Now hold on State Farm woman...I agree with you that we as students will think of your name and probably even forever remember this...but that doesn't mean I'm going to use your insurance or even talk the actual spending part up. From advertising and PR, that's a pretty big jump to make that causation will occur. Might there be a correlation? Possibly. But thinking that State Farm is good and reputable for being kind on campus one day won't make me choose them over other insurance firms. Maybe for some people, it will....but if I was your strategist wasting a ton of money trying to appease college students, I wouldn't assume that this will CAUSE them to provide you business.
What are advertisers thinking sometimes? With coupons, e-mail listservs and more, there's more of an inference that you can track if and how more business was received. But here, you can't. I'd love to see what percentage of University of Missouri and Oklahoma State students insure with State Farm in the next couple of years and see if this causation effect worked.
As an advertising representative whose job it is to convince local businesses to purchase advertisements on a daily basis, I am guilty of these tactics. I tell managers and owners the circulation and distribution information and whatever else they want to know, but I wonder if business owners acknowledge the balance one must find between buying customers over (State Farm) and giving yourself a positive name in more money-savvy/philanthropic ways to earn business. Which would you choose?
Well, thanks State Farm for not only the variety of free goods, but the marketing thoughts and ideas for the future. If you didn't learn from my last post...they're not copyrighted, so we'll see what type of ideas spawn in the future :).
Irrelevant memo of the day:
I love how efficient my friends are. After getting home from apple picking, I got a text message inviting me to dinner. A few calls and five minutes later, all of us and Shaina enjoyed a lovely dinner at Plaza 900 (Mizzou's most grand dining hall, for those of you who don't know). I had to make us take a picture, because I love how even with our busy schedules, we can still round each other up that quickly. *Happiness!*
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