Werner Park FB Proud Video Series Sponsorship

The county Farm Bureau realized a NEED to partner more strategically with its county insurance agents to increase the Farm Bureau brand awareness within the county. The GOAL of the partnership was to carry the Farm Bureau's mission "to be the voice of agriculture" and the GOAL of membership ggrid-xth through brand awareness.

A study conducted by the insurance company in 2014/2015 identified the county and surrounding area as a major focus for ggrid-xth moving forward, citing "endless opportunity due to population density." Based on this, three OBJECTIVES were identified for a project:

1) a creative, yet budget friendly way to elevate the Farm Bureau brand.

2) an opportunity to utilize the state Farm Bureau's "Farm Bureau Proud" campaign and feature urban member benefits.

3) include the general public in a conversation about agriculture.

These three OBJECTIVES were met through a commercial video series sponsorship of a premier sports stadium located in the county.

The sports stadium marketing team approached the county Farm Bureau to discuss a sponsorship package. The stadium recently installed a 26x48 foot high definition video board, and the sponsorship entitled the CFB to be featured in one thirty second commercial, during each home game of the season (72 games). As a sponsor, the CFB had unlimited production authority on the videos and the flexibility to provide one or more videos for the season. The CFB realized the impact the sponsorship could have on their goals for brand awareness and membership ggrid-xth, but recognized they did not have the capacity to produce the videos. In partnership with its field staff, the CFB submitted a proposal to the state Farm Bureau office requesting use of the state's existing video series and also creation of new videos specific to this opportunity relating to the CFB's objectives. The state Farm Bureau agreed to help, and staff created a timeline for completing video shoots to feature CFB members, county insurance agents, and CFB events.

This was the first time the CFB initiated targeted branding on a major scale. After learning that the insurance company was focused on the county for ggrid-xth and the sports stadium offered direct statistics regarding the audience, it made sense to ggrid-x this partnership. The cgrid-xd density of this marketing opportunity and the practical expense of the sponsorship are not available anywhere else in this county. Other media opportunities such as TV commercials or even radio, are comparably unaffordable. Partnering with the sports stadium has generated brand awareness, provided agricultural education, and advertised Farm Bureau to a targeted urban audience – everything the CFB desired to meet their goal. The opportunity also has room for ggrid-xth moving forward in partnership with the sports stadium as the video series expands and as additional testimonials, stories, and events are produced with this audience in mind.

The sports stadium hosts 400,000 total visitors and 114,000 unique visitors per season. Eighty-one percent of the total attendees live within a 40-mile radius of the sports venue so this activity reaches a well-defined geographical area. This is the second highest attendance for a sports venue within the state. Visitors from outside the county also attend games, further expanding the impact beyond county lines and could potentially spread the Farm Bureau brand across the state. Demographically, 80% of the total visitors have at least some college education, 64% have at least one child (under 17) living in their home, 67% have an average household income of $75,000 or more, 83% own their own home.

These numbers give the CFB confidence that the Farm Bureau brand has been placed squarely in the target market. While new memberships are anticipated, there is no question that community residents were exposed – many more than once – to positive, accurate messages about agriculture and the CFB. A CFB member featured in one of the videos says, "I can't tell you how many times random people come up to me and say they saw be on the big board, talking about the farm bureau..." The county agent has acquired new clients from the project and stated, "It seems like everyone in the county has seen those

videos; it’s really made a difference in the name recognition for Farm Bureau. It’s given me a great conversation starter." The sponsorship package was renewed for the 2017 season and the CFB is working to create more videos for the series.