Jake from State Farm: Expand a Familiar Role Without Losing Its Meaning

Read the campaign story

Jake from State Farm began in a 2011 DDB advertisement featuring employee Jake Stone. The character appeared in a comic late-night call-centre situation. In February 2020, State Farm announced a return led by The Marketing Arm, with an actor taking the continuing role. Later trade interviews identify him as Kevin Miles; the initial company announcement used Kevin Mimms.

The revival retained recognisable clothing and the connection to a helpful company representative, then placed the character in more settings. The original appearance, recasting and subsequent partnerships are treated as one family. Reported popularity, impressions and business growth are not adopted as proof that the character caused sales. A fictional representative is not evidence that every customer receives the same service or financial outcome.

Editorial interpretation: a small element can become a useful brand asset when people remember it independently of the original advertisement. Reusing it may reduce the work needed to establish a new scene. But the team must understand what the memory contains. A name, visual cue, joke and service association are different components, and preserving only one may not retain the meaning that made the execution recognisable.

Editorial interpretation: expanding a character requires a role that can generate new situations without changing its basic relationship to the brand. The character should do more than appear wherever attention is available. A stable function gives the audience a way to understand each new encounter. Recasting also makes continuity a creative question: the work needs to signal what remains familiar while allowing the performance and responsibilities to evolve.

Audit the remembered cue before building a new series

Ask what people recall without showing them a full compilation. Separate the character’s name, appearance, behaviour and association with the service. Do not assume that the team’s favourite detail is the one audiences use for recognition. A small brand can test a rough sketch and a brief description before committing to new production. The goal is to discover which elements carry useful meaning, not simply prove that some viewers remember an old joke.

Write a role that remains useful across situations

Define what the representative helps the audience understand and which behaviours would contradict that role. New settings should create different questions while preserving the same underlying function. Avoid making the character a universal expert or an answer to problems outside the provider’s responsibility. A recurring figure can make a service approachable, but practical information still needs to be accurate and available without relying on the viewer’s affection for the performance.

Keep continuity separate from claims about real employees

An actor portraying a representative is part of an advertisement, even when the character originated with an employee. Do not imply that the fictional interaction is a typical customer testimonial or a promise about every staff member. Credit the performance and clarify the service conditions where relevant. If a familiar character changes, give viewers enough context to understand the continuity rather than treating confusion as a failure to appreciate the new creative direction.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: a fictional community print studio could develop an original illustrated coordinator who explains a missing-file question. Compare a single introductory scene with a second scene using the same character to explain a different, equally bounded request. Use synthetic orders and no real customer data. Test whether the continuing role helps people understand the studio’s process without copying Jake’s name, clothing or dialogue.

Measure recognition of the role, comprehension of the two processes and unsupported service expectations. Separate character familiarity from trust in actual staff, price assumptions or willingness to purchase.

Stop if the character appears to guarantee service beyond the stated process, impersonates a real employee without permission or makes conditions harder to understand.

• Define one stable helpful behaviour and two clearly limited tasks.
• Make the character visibly fictional and provide the same plain process notes in both versions.
• Ask consenting adults what remained recognisable and what changed between scenes.