• by Sarah Mahoney , Yesterday

"Stanchion pad" may well be the most boring words in basketball, but State Farm thinks Stan — and his robotic lips — is ready for his close-up. The insurance company, which has owned stanchion pad signage in NBA and WNBA arenas for 18 years, has finally decided to bring it to life alongside WNBA star Caitlin Clark, in ads that will run throughout the remainder of the NBA and WNBA season.

The idea came to life as the company struggled to find new ways to break through a crowded, inherently low-interest category. "It's not a level playing field," Alyson Griffin, State Farm's head of marketing, tells Marketing Daily. "Even though we are the No. 1 insurer, we are only the fifth-largest advertiser." As a mutual insurance company owned by policyholders rather than outside shareholders, "we are very judicious with our spend and don't have as much weight in the market. We have to innovate."

That innovation started with an asset hiding in plain sight. State Farm's logo has been on those stanchions for two decades, meaning it's been present for every amazing dunk, every terrible defeat. "We thought, 'We can't take this asset for granted anymore.'"

So working with agency Highdive, the team animated it. Stan — kind of a wise guy, but also sincere, always there and always watching — is, Griffin is proud to note, a genuine robot, not an AI creation. And there's a strategic metaphor embedded in the character. "There's an allegory of the stanchion pad and our agents," she says. "Our agents are across the country supporting people. There are more State Farm storefronts than McDonald's or Starbucks, and it matters very much that they are supporting their communities." Just as Stan supports the hoop, the argument goes, State Farm supports its policyholders — and has supported women's sports long before it became a hot property in American athletics.

Griffin has been working with Clark since early on in her career, when her family was still managing her. And she’s proud that women's basketball has become a force powerful enough to carry ads into NBA programming as well. "We believe Caitlin is that crossover talent that can carry the NBA Finals," she says. "This is the premier time for men's basketball." The spots debut Friday on opening night of the WNBA season and will run across linear, digital, social, streaming and online video throughout the year.

Overall, Griffin says she continues to be happy with the return on ad spending State Farm gets from sports in general. “And basketball, including women’s basketball, in particular, is at the intersection of culture, passion, fandom and engagement. That's exactly where our brand wants to be.”