• by Karl Greenberg , March 3, 2008

Race driver Kasey Kahne is appearing in new ads for Allstate Insurance that extend the company's ad campaign using Kahne and a group of women--the "Allstate Girls"--who adore him unconditionally.

Pam Hollander, who oversees Allstate's sponsorship programs, says the company is in its fourth year of official sponsorship of Gillette Evernham Motorsports and Kasey Kahne. The company also has title sponsorship of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

"With these two properties, we feel like we are aligning with one of the top teams and drivers in the sport, as well as with one of the most coveted races on the circuit. Certainly, our Allstate Girls commercials have made us one of the most visible sponsors in the sport."

The campaign, which broke on Sunday, also puts Kahne onscreen with Allstate spokesperson Dennis Haysbert, an actor on "24" and, most recently, in "The Unit" on CBS.

The "Allstate Girls" campaign centers on 30-something, desperate housewives who are fixated on Kahne. Charley Wickman, executive vice president/creative chief at Allstate's agency of half a century, Chicago-based Leo Burnett, says the campaign lets Allstate pitch different products without having to change campaigns.

"What we have done is create characters who are malleable--who can be used to promote different products for Allstate," he says. "We are able to change up the drama and accommodate the products as opposed to recreating the wheel all the time." The ads will run on Nascar broadcasts this season and on Allstate.com.

"Kasey has a matinee idol quality about him," says Wickman. "I have a long history of doing beer ads. Basically, my thought is, you take that sensibility and turn it on its head and have girls ogling guys--a more contemporary version of the old beer formula."

The ads tout Allstate's Your Choice Auto Insurance and its Accident Forgiveness clause, and the Safe Driving Bonus Check, with lighthearted creative in which the women are obsessed with Kahne, and tend to get into fender-benders because of their devotion to the race driver.

In one of the ads, which come in 30- and 60-second versions, the girls are at a café, debating ways to spend their Safe Driving Bonus Checks. One girl suggests they visit a spa. Then another suggests they use the checks to sponsor Kasey Kahne. Cut to their fantasy of Kahne in a pink uniform with hearts and pictures of the women on it, dancing, à la Justin Timberlake, to '80s arena rock band Scorpion.

Hollander notes that with 36 races between February and November, "Nascar is unique among all sports because it represents an opportunity for us to activate a sponsorship year-round, reaching millions of fans."

Wickman adds that Nascar is also one of the few sports in which concerns about branding are extraneous. "Fans welcome it. They know it's part of the culture."

The effort includes an online component where scrolling over a banner ad showing the dolled-up car enables consumers to customize it themselves, then e-mail it, print it or use it as desktop jewelry.