State Farm will have the McDonald’s agency business model with possibly a couple of co-op vendors on the side to go, according to a report in Adweek.
Taking a page from the fast food giant’s playbook, the St. Louis-based the country’s largest insurance provider is reportedly in the process of consolidating a majority of its marketing business with Omnicom, leaving DDB and OMD as its lead agencies.
Similar to what McDonald’s did last year – shifting most of its business to the holding company giant – State Farm is reportedly mulling a move to a new, stream-lined Omnicom approach, with possibly some exceptions involving agencies outside of the organization.
“State Farm works with many vendors to provide solutions to meet our customers’ needs… Those relationships continue to evolve and are proprietary,” a company spokesperson told Adweek regarding its agency roster.
A spokesperson for Omnicom added, “We look forward to continuing to work with State Farm in 2018… We are committed to advancing how we work collaboratively and creatively.”
In 2016, DDB beat out FCB in a late 2015 brand refresh pitch. Chairman emeritus, Keith Reinhard, wrote the “Like a Good Neighbor” tagline in 1971 with Barry Manilow writing the jingle.
ALSO READ: REEL AD OF THE WEEK: DDB & State Farm continue ‘Neighborhood of Good’
At the moment, it’s not clear which agencies would stay or be cut from the State Farm roster if this happens. In addition to its smaller regional partners, State Farm also works with several non-Omnicom shops including Steve Stoute’s multi-cultural agency Translation, FCB, which retained the below-the-line portion of the business following the 2015 review; and Weber Shandwick, which serves as its PR AOR.
In a Kantar Media report, State Farm spent approximately $726 million on domestic paid media in 2016 and just over $300 million during the first half of 2017.
Its most recent campaign is the extension of ‘Neighborhood of Good” from DDB and a multiplatform campaign centered around This Is Us, which includes three 30-second spots that were shot in the style of the hit drama, This is Us.
There is no word if Omnicom will launch a dedicated agency to State Farm, similar to when We Are Unlimited was created for McDonald’s. Stay tuned to Reel Chicago for any more updates regarding State Farm and Omnicom news.
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.
