A year ago, State Farm released a wonderful commercial from agency Translation suggesting NBA star Chris Paul had a twin brother, Cliff, who happened to be a State Farm agent—because he was "born to assist." In April, agency and client released an amusing follow-up spot. And now, they're cleverly extending the campaign all the way into product design through a deal with Nike's Jordan Brand.
Yes, the Los Angeles Clippers star's Jordan CP3.VII sneaker is now available in an argyle design—inspired by Cliff, who is always seen in an argyle sweater in the State Farm spots. (The CP3.VII sneaker is also the first Jordan brand shoe with iD customization on the Nike website.) A new State Farm spot, posted below, shows Chris and Cliff brainstorming ideas to bring their fans together—and landing on the custom shoe idea. Paul, as always, is doubly great in the new ad playing both himself and his nerdy alter ego, even if the plot line of the new :30 isn't as magical as the two previous :60s.
"I am always amazed at how people have connected to Chris and Cliff," Paul said in a statement to AdFreak. "I enter an arena and people call out 'Where's your brother?' Working with State Farm and Jordan on the argyle customization of my new shoe adds another level of creativity to marketing both the shoe and State Farm."
State Farm marketing chief Tim Van Hoof said the argyle iD customizations are "an exciting and cool way to connect with NBA fans and increase our relevance within the NBA culture." And Translation creative director Emily Sander said the agency wanted to "dig deeper and give fans a culturally relevant way to own a piece of the story. … We found the perfect way to organically continue infusing State Farm into sports culture, while adding more dimension to the character and his story."
See the previous spots below:
