A Stolen Car + Allstate = A Great Branding Story

There are opportunities that come out of the blue for brand marketers that are so unexpected they could stop the novice in their tracks. But the brands that capitalize on these fleeting moments in time, these golden marketing gifts, often rack up big-time brand awareness.

There’s plenty of examples. I’m sure most of us remember the

2011 mid-term political campaign season when 7-Eleven jumped on President Obama’s comment to Republicans that they were “standing, watching us, sippin’ on a Slurpee” while Democrats pulled the car out of the ditch.

Then last year, when the owners of California Chrome threatened to withdraw the horse from the Belmont Stakes if it wasn’t allowed to wear his equine nasal strips for his run for the Triple Crown, Breathe Right Strips grabbed the reins.

This week it’s Allstate’s turn.

A young woman, 43 years ago at the age of 19, bought herself a bright blue Corvette Stingray. That was 1972, the year the Stingray debuted. Within months, the car was stolen from the parking lot where she worked. She was crushed.

Forty-three years later her parents got a call that the car had been found. The red-tape paperwork fight began to prove it was hers. Allstate, which the woman had a life-long car ownership relationship with, took charge and got her car back for her. The story unfolded this week on the “Today Show” and in online media outlets giving Allstate a great branding story to tell. Read all about it.