State Farm® Catches NCAA® March Madness®

The Nation's Leading Insurer Teams Up with College Coaching Leaders – Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski and Coach Pat Summitt

Bloomington, Illinois, March 6, 2007 -- State Farm is introducing new advertising on March 11 to coincide with the start of NCAA March Madness®.  Known as “Selection Sunday,” March 11 marks the official start of March Madness, which will draw millions of viewers to CBS over the next few weeks.

As an official corporate partner of the NCAA, State Farm is setting up a play for consumers’ attention throughout the men’s and women’s tournament season.

State Farm's NCAA campaign includes new advertising that features prominent college basketball coaches – Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) and University of Tennessee’s women’s basketball Coach Pat Summitt.  “It makes perfect sense for State Farm to team up with Coach K and Coach Summitt.  We’re the leader in our industry and they’re the leaders in their fields,” said Mark Gibson, State Farm Assistant Vice President – Advertising.  “As the official insurance corporate partner of the NCAA, we’re building on the existing sponsorship by creating new ads with these amazing coaches.”

The television ads are only the beginning of a larger integrated NCAA basketball-themed campaign for State Farm.  Not only is State Farm a sponsor of CBS’s Live Webcasts of the tournament games, March Madness on Demand, they were there for fans throughout the season as the presenting sponsor of ESPN’s® College Game Day show.  State Farm is also a sponsor of the ESPN Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com and will have major ad placement in ESPN the Magazine.  “We’re finding new and creative ways to reach consumers where they spend their time.  The NCAA Basketball Tournaments draw a huge audience – not only during the games, but in the daily lives of fans that live and breathe NCAA basketball each March,” said Gibson. 

State Farm print and online ads celebrate the fun and the tradition of team rivalries and water cooler smack talk that happens in the work place each year.  One print ad gives consumers a chance to cut out and hang a sign that reads “Do Not Disturb Until Halftime.” Online “tools” available on statefarm.com complement that theme – offering visitors the chance to build a tournament “buddy” and download real time score updates to their computer desktops.

About State Farm

State Farm® insures more cars than any other insurer in North America and is the leading U.S. home insurer. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 69,000 employees serve nearly 73 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No.22 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca.