By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — While most of America is thinking football, Allstate Insurance is thinking basketball — NCAA basketball, to be exact.
On Tuesday the company will announce the Allstate Alumni 3 on 3 Challenge, a promotion that will let former college stars relive their glory days and generate sales leads for the No. 2 home and auto insurance company behind State Farm. National ads begin Jan. 22. Men and women can register for the four-city tournament at www.allstate3on3.com.
The promotion aims to reach mostly younger men, who continue to be elusive for many marketers. "We, like many other companies, are looking at ways to go after this audience," says Pam Hollander, Allstate's director of sponsorship. "What better way to really engage them in the sport they are passionate about than to have our own event?"
The event includes four regional tournaments to be played in Charlotte, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. Winning three-player teams from each region will then compete for the championship during the NCAA Final Four championship April 2 and 4 in St. Louis. Allstate will donate $10,000 to the winning men's and women's teams' alumni associations.
Ads feature Duke University's "Coach K" — Mike Krzyzewski — and Syracuse University's Orangemen mascot "Otto." In one ad, guys play a game in a driveway and replay Christian Laettner 's last-minute 1992 overtime shot that put Duke over Kentucky to get into the Final Four. As they celebrate, Coach K emerges from the bushes to join in the revelry. In a second ad, a masseuse gives "Otto" a rubdown as the mascot watches a game. In both ads, the announcer tells viewers to sign up at the tournament Web site.
The ads will run on sports broadcasts along with Allstate's ongoing "Our Stand" ads with actor Dennis Haysbert. Hollander says the two messages work together and that the tournament is a long-term effort.
"We're trying to reach these guys in a different way," she says. "This is a program we look to grow over the next few years."
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