Joseph Cianciotto

State Farm’s Discount Double Check, represents a campaign first developed holistically and then brought to market through the coordination of mass-media, agent participation, content partnerships and social activation. By developing a product from the ground up that was compelling to consumers, grounded in the brand’s voice and built around a compelling creative insight allowed us to create a campaign that transcended the medium to become a pop-culture phenomena.

State Farm is the largest auto insurer in the US, but the brand trails amongst younger consumers. To better connect with this target, State Farm needed to broaden its appeal.

State Farm decided to go big in order to change these perceptions.  Employing a bombastic thirty-foot robot the brand launched ‘State of Chaos’. Melding Hollywood style effects with real-time Google Street-view panoramics of their hometown, empowered users to create a blockbuster starring their actual block. 

Over 45 million people play fantasy football each year. Unfortunately the excitement happens at the end of a long 13 weeks season with one champion crowned. So how do you foster that champion excitement all season long? 

Leveraging Discount Double Check, State Farm gave users the chance to double the stakes on each game all season long. By partnering with the Facebook, the brand created a 13 week episodic content series starring Robert Smigel and Super Fans of SNL who delivered a different thematic challenge each week. Fantasy Football participants could double down by challenging the person they were playing that week to a unique dare they’d have to complete on Facebook for all of fandom to see. 

Keeping an ear to what was trending and relevant, each film and challenge was edited and published within days of that week’s match-up.

Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Bullying has become a major crisis in our nation’s schools, with almost 1 in 3 adolescents reporting at least moderate bullying experiences Parents have a key role to play in educating their children on what they can do to help stop bullying they may witness.

The goal of the “Be More Than A Bystander” campaign in partnership with the Bully Project was to raise awareness among parents that, with the prevalence of bullying among teens, it is critical to provide their own kids with the tools to take an active role in standing up for those that are victimized by these actions. 

The point of differentiation between upstart Gett and the industry juggernaut Uber is that Uber has surge pricing.

Gett rates, however, never change. So you always know what price your ride will be.

To celebrate this transparency we set out to redeem April Fools Day. For just this one day we gave our customers the chance, through the Gett App to get anything their heart desired in a Gett Car.

We got a pretty wide variety of requests. And we set about making them happen one by one: 

– We let you get a tattoo

– We let you get a monkey.

– We let you get roasted.

– We let you get famous.

– We let you get a makeover.

– We let you get famous.

To spread the message, these one of a kind experiences were filmed and shared in real time on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In addition, we supported the efforts with a one day newspaper buy, celebrating our most ambitious requests and a 24 hour street level wild posting campaign to raise awareness.

 In just 24 hours we were picked up by top local news outlets and blogs. We saw a 400% increase in earned social media impressions, #GettAnything was a top trending hashtag on Twitter. Downloads of the Gett app more than tripled and 100% of all requests were fulfilled.

 Letting consumers Gett Anything in a Gett Car.

 Get it.

Suicide is the third leading cause among 15-24 year olds. But teen suicide is preventable. That’s because the issues that trigger it take time to manifest.

The ad council tasked us with reaching out to teens before they reached this breaking point and with our ‘We Can Help Us’ campaign and initiative we gave teens a way to hear from peers who have been through the same tough times and triumphed.

While led by an anthemic TV spot, the initiative came to fruition by partnering with ReachOut.com to curate real stories from teens that had struggled with various issues and made it through. We took the top 25 stories, and without changing a single word, paired them with top animators and filmmakers from around the world who brought these essays to life as short films, creating a wealth of content that was not only compelling but also uniquely relevant to teens that were struggling.

The New York Lottery recently re-launched the family of Win for Life scratch-off games with the message that when you win for life, it pays to play it safe. To deliver this message, we undertook a search, which ultimately led us to the person most qualified to look after the well being of all New Yorkers…your Nana.

Not only was Nana interested in the job, she even offered to let all New Yorkers become her friend, via her own presence on New York Lottery’s Facebook page. By friending their newly protective Nana, she would immediately get to work analyzing their profile data to see how careful they were really being…and weighing in.

Moments after users were “Nanalyzed,” they would get their own unique assessment, where based upon their behavior Nana would provide tips on how to play it safe on Facebook. Users would also receive over-protective messages via the Nana Cam based on any risky activity Nana noticed…such as comments, check-ins, posted photos and new friends.

This all helped to serve as a constant reminder that Nana would be there for you always… making sure that you live a life as long she has.

For Holiday Instant Games the New York Lottery launched ‘YouAreReallySpecial.com’ where you can hear an ode to the person most deserving of a gift this year…you.

By entering their info the user would receive a personalized music video trumpeting how wonderful they are. From first name to hometown to their birthday, the holiday balladeer flawlessly incorporated these elements into the celebratory carol alongside imagery and social connections.

Targeting their IP address the film also seamlessly integrated a map of the location the video was being viewed and in real-time incorporated the nearest locations they could buy Holiday Instant Games. This enabled the New York Lottery to create an experience that not only drove interest but purchase as well.

For the better part of the last two years it has been my great passion to have been the architect and creator of content and culture for one of the largest brands in the US.

To see this body of work click here.

To obtain the password you can email me at JosephPeter@me.com

As the ten year anniversary of September 11th approached, State Farm commemorated the moment with a message of ‘thanks’ to the more than 400 fallen firefighters and first responders who gave their lives that day. Partnering with director Spike Lee, the brand created a filmed tribute in honor of the heroes of 9/11.

This :90-second tribute aired only once.

With the arrival of 2015 All Star to New York City, the NBA tasked us with creating a communication that celebrated the game as an event, not just for the Garden and Barclay’s Center, but also as one that touched all five boroughs of New York City.

Initially created for Taxi TV, the success of the communication saw this campaign rise to prominence on TV and as a message internationally as well.

In order to increase consideration and relevance among high school and college-aged audiences, the USTA set out to create a social program that highlighted the many health and personal benefits of playing the sport of tennis. 

While the messaging needed to be credible, to appeal to this target it was critical that this content be relevant, entertaining and worth sharing.

Our campaign “Tennis Makes You…”, tailor-made for the Instagram video platform, delivered on this insight by highlighting a specific benefit in each over-the-top film, showing that playing the sport could actually make you stronger, attractive, stress-free and of course invincible. 

In order to generate excitement for the NBA’s Christmas Day games, we launched the ‘Gift, No Gift.’ Campaign that extended across TV, digital and retail during the lead up to the big day.

Leveraging this play on words, allowed us to build toward the anticipation of the games, but also seamlessly tie the gift message to the secondary objective of creating demand for the NBA’s limited Edition Christmas Day jerseys as well. 

At the start of NY Fashion week, mannequins from all over the city left their windows and started a protest. Why? Because clothing manufactures, even high end ones, were replacing cotton with inferior and uncomfortable fabrics. This created a problem not only for America’s cotton producers but also for the millions of shoppers who don’t think to check the label before purchasing clothes.

The installation, set up in the heart of fashion week, invited the public to take part in the protest. Every person and potential consumer that walked by was invited to grab a sign and photograph themselves with the Mannequins protesting.

Each picture was incorporated into a stop motion film that was produced in real-time and showcased during Fashion Week.

In a span of two days our installation had become a top trending movement across social and media outlets, empowering every day consumers to stand up and demand ‘Cotton or Nothing.’

KnowHow2Go is a program targeted to inner city middle school and high school students with sole purpose of encouraging them to attend college and providing resources.

With one click on the microsite, Future Book uses all the information about you based on your Facebook profile and takes you on a hypothetical journey into your future if you made the most important choice, choosing to go with a State Farm agent. Using this Facebook data, it offers up one of hundreds of unique career outcomes, whom you’ll marry, predicts political fortunes, your launch into global icon status and eventual purchase of your hometown and its move to the Caribbean.

As the fulfillment of your charmed future, you find out your story has been narrated by none other than Alphonso Ribeiro. And as a finale the user gets to become actual friends with Mr. Ribeiro.  In the first week alone, requests were so high that Alphonso’s page was eventually converted to a Fan page to accommodate the friend requests and opt-ins to State Farm’s social properties increased tenfold.  

Recently Powerball doubled their starting jackpots from $20 million to $40 million.  To reinforce this message, the campaign set out to show New Yorkers what life would be like if they were not just rich, but THAT kind of rich.

That insight came to life, when normal everyday activities were taken to the next level through print, TV and online. Through an immersive social installation within the NY Lottery site, users were given a glimpse into what their current lives would be like if they were that kind of rich based upon their digital footprint and behaviors.

This film represents the anthemic centerpiece of the Fabric Of My Life campaign for Cotton. What was most exciting about this particular spot is that we wrote the campaign specifically for Zooey Deschanel who opened the door for us to be able to bring the campaign to life as an autobiographical vehicle from notable individuals such as Miranda lambert, to Jazmine Sullivan to Emmy Rossum and Colbie Caillat.

When it comes to the US Open there is something transformative that happens to people when they attend this sporting event. They first go expecting to see a tennis match and quickly realize they're at the biggest party in NY filled with live music, elaborate installations, high-end cuisine and a celebrity filled campus grounds that would rival any summer event in Central Park. And not only did they catch that amazing match, they left with their own unique story.

To harness the power of this experience across its massive fanbase the US Open launched the social media campaign #StoryOfTheOpen.

The centerpiece of this initiative was the creation of a live 60-foot mural overlooking New York City’s midtown tunnel, painted by acclaimed artist Josh Cochrane. Josh’s creation unfolded organically over the full 14 days of the event in real-time. Each day of the US Open, Cochran brought the tournament to life by adding imagery to the mural  based on the most talked about topics and social mentions aggregated through #StoryoftheOPEN.

Ultimately the initiative brought fans to the forefront by offering a chance to actively participate in the creation of the mural and become a part of this year’s Story of The Open.

The mission of the United States Tennis Association is to grow the game of tennis and inspire those that do play to play more often. In order to better unlock this and bring tennis enthusiasts together the USTA launched ‘6° Degrees of Tennis’.

With the a simple click or a tap in mobile, the native Facebook app lets a user automatically find out which of their friends across their expansive social network also share an interest in the sport of tennis.

From here they can explore their tennis-centric circle of friends and even dive deeper to find out why that person loves tennis. The user can then invite that person to join the app, allowing them to discover and expand their own six degrees of tennis footprint.

The app also empowers user to take their interactions to the next level with the  “request a match” feature. Integrated with the native Facebook calendar functionality, the app allows the user to invite a friend to set up a date, time and court location to get together and play.