State Farm's latest spot with Caitlin Clark highlights her Rookie of the Year season in Indiana
Caitlin Clark has kept busy this offseason playing golf, attending Colts, Butler, and Iowa basketball games, and filming new commercials.
The Indiana Fever season has been over for almost two months and Caitlin Clark has been seen more with a golf club in her hand than a basketball.
Why not combine the two?
That’s what State Farm — one of a half-dozen major companies that Clark has endorsement deals with — did in its latest commercial featuring the 22-year-old guard.
It was a quick production day with the spot filmed in Indianapolis on Oct. 21, per a source on set. And notably, it was her first commercial with the company in an Indiana Fever uniform rather than one from her days at the University of Iowa.
State Farm leaned into her success this past summer and created a storyline out of it. Clark finished fourth in WNBA MVP voting in Year 1, and she was ridiculously one vote shy of being the unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year.
The 30-second spot also included the face of the company, Jake from State Farm (I won’t spoil it and tell you his real name), along with ESPN NBA host Cassidy Hubbarth and a young kid — who played the part of a rookie driver.
Get it?
She has done several fun and unique things with the brand, including a surprise pop-up in Phoenix during All-Star weekend. I’m still waiting for those to be turned into commercials.
Clark, dressed in the Fever’s Rebel Edition red uniform, appears and says “I was a rookie once” while pulling out a golf club. This was after Hubbarth joked about the kid making a rookie move.
“Aren't you rookie of the year?” Hubbarth asked Clark.
“That was last year,” she said. “Ancient history. The stories that I could tell you. Here, pull up a chair.”
Hubbarth: “Okay, I meant this rookie driver made that rookie move.”
And that’s where Clark jumped in, making the seamless transition: “You need someone with more experience. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”
Boom!
At the end of it, I also thought it was interesting that it showed a graphic reading “Watch NBA on ESPN” trying to capture her fans and keep them watching basketball during the WNBA offseason.
Quick spot. Great script. Well played.
One week after playing in The ANNIKA Pro-Am in Florida, Clark made a surprise appearance on Wednesday at the RSM Classic PGA Tour event. She played nine holes with pro Zach Johnson, who is from Iowa City. Tom Brady was among the other players who participated in the event down in Georgia.
She was all over the LPGA’s social media last week, then the PGA Tour this week. Great work by those groups maximizing exposure and leaning into it — unlike the WNBA this past season.