Allstate: EQUALITY IS _____

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: ALLSTATE
Agency: LEO BURNETT CHICAGO, ARC WORLDWIDE
Category: Financial Products & Services
Advertising campaign: EQUALITY IS _____
Associate Director: Christopher Aubin (Starcom MediaVest Group)
Senior Vice president/Director: Karla Knecht (Starcom MediaVest Group)
Supervisor: Drew Gascon (Starcom MediaVest Group)

Strategy
2012 was a tumultuous year for the U.S. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. Although historic progress was being made to advance LGBT rights, it was hesitant, uncertain progress. There was much public debate about the topic and the LGBT community believed few institutions were listening to them or looking out for their best interests. In particular, they felt ambivalent toward insurance companies – with research indicating LGBT people believed no major insurance brand understood or identified with them.Allstate is committed to supporting the LGBT community and offers policies with equal rates and coverage to same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples where possible. However, only 22% of the LGBT community perceived Allstate as doing a good job of supporting them. How could we connect with this disenfranchised community through all the noise, swirl and emotion? We realized that we didn’t need to speak; we needed to listen.

Effectiveness
As the most popular “Equality is ____” messages moved up on the site, they became Allstate’s de facto public stance on LGBT rights. Allstate hoped to capture 250 photos for the website and generate 1,500 leads. Instead, we captured more than 1,400 photos and over 3000 leads. Critically, the number of LGBT Californians agreeing that Allstate is very or extremely committed to the LGBT community rose 11 percentage points – a significant increase. The respect won for Allstate from “Equality Is____” is expected to pay dividends well into the future.

Execution
We invited LGBT people to express what their view of equality is. We went to pride festivals across California with a red carpet behind velvet ropes that led to a paparazzi wall. Here, a large banner reading “Equality is _____ “ invited LGBT people and their friends to fill it in for the camera, holding a white board with their written message of equality. The very next day, all the pictures became launch content for Allstate’s brand new “Equality is _____ “ website. Additionally, loud, proud out-of-home and ambient media executions put LGBT people and their visions of equality on news kiosks and bus shelters, showing the wider world Allstate’s LGBT commitment and driving visitors to the website. There, people could “like” or comment on the content and add their own photos, videos or quotes. Instead of Allstate saying they supported the community, thousands were doing it for them.