State Farm Goes for “Where’s the Beef” Campaign With “Legs”

BrandWeek reports on a new campaign by State Farm that includes a viral video contest:

State Farm asks, then answers, the question, “Now what?” in a campaign that shows people having to deal with common, but difficult, situations. The campaign, via DDB, Chicago, targets young drivers and is anchored by three TV spots, in which no reference is made to State Farm, no words are spoken and the only text is the URL, www.Nowwhat.com.

The campaign, which broke this past weekend, already has State Farm believing it has “legs” to last a while. “We believe that ‘Now what?’ can become part of the vernacular, like ‘Where’s the beef?’ or ‘Whassup,’” said Teri Lucie, State Farm segment marketing director.

Poor Teri. Great idea and clever implementation. But imagine the snickering in the State Farm cafeteria. “Hey- here comes the ‘where’s the beef’ lady.” “Teri- long time no see. Whazzup.”

“I pitty the fool that don’t buy insurance.”

Starting 8/29 you’ll be able to enter a “So What” contest via iFilm (details on the site, read by a young un-voice-over announcer for that hip feel). Do you suppose you’ll have to watch a 90-minute pre-roll ad before registering? Actually that’s not fair. I think iFilm has calmed down a bit with the pre-rolls.