Allstate offered football fans the chance to win $500,000, to be split evenly with one of the colleges participating in the Rose Bowl. The “Allstate Field Goal Challenge” gave two lucky fans a trip to the Rose Bowl and the chance to kick a 35 yard field goal for the grand prize. First, though, the contestant had to register online and kick “virtual” field goals into an Allstate-branded net to enter the contest.

Objectives:

• Generate brand awareness and national media attention.
• Increase consideration for Allstate’s products.
• Leverage sponsorship of the BCS.
• Ensure that football fans know Allstate’s stand – “You’re in Good Hands”

Strategies:

• Create an online promotion on ESPN.com for fans to register and play an interactive football game.
• Select two people to receive a trip to the Rose Bowl and the chance to kick from the 25 yard line for $250,000.
• Match the prize amount given to the contestant to one of the colleges playing in the Rose Bowl.
• Broadcast the kick live on ESPN’s “Cold Pizza.”
• Award $25,000 to the contestant and to the college as a consolation prize.

Results:

• Allstate received an outstanding 32,000 entries and generated millions of impressions.
• Kennon Treib of Houston kicked the ball just four yards short of the field goal, earning $25,000 for himself and $25,000 for the University of Texas General Scholarship Fund.
• “We felt the live coverage on ESPN’s Cold Pizza was invaluable and provided us more coverage of our promotion than was expected,” said a representative for Allstate.
• “SCA worked with us every step of the way,” said the representative. “There are numerous unknowns going into a first-time promotion of this type and SCA was there to ensure us that we would have adequate prize coverage when implementing the final kick.”