Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance launched 'Thirteen, Meet Adam' in February 2016, a narrative film campaign by Young & Laramore built around one deceptively
ARCHIVEIndiana Farm Bureau Insurance Bets on Luck to Sell Coverage
"Thirteen, Meet Adam" is a February 2016 narrative film campaign created by Young & Laramore for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance in the United States, built around a fictional character named Adam whose extraordinary luck — so extreme he skipped age 13 altogether — exposes the dangerous assumption that misfortune will simply never arrive.
Adam is Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance's most disarming creative device: a man so charmed that the laws of probability seem to exempt him from the ordinary risks of life. The campaign's central argument is that Adam is an exception, not a model. Because he has never needed insurance coverage in the way most people do, he has never had to think seriously about what he holds and what he lacks. The brand proposition follows naturally: unless you are Adam — and the campaign makes clear you are not — you need to talk to Farm Bureau Insurance, the agency that helps customers "have what you need, and know what you have."
Published in the United States in February 2016, the campaign comprises two film assets and operates squarely within the personal insurance market, targeting individuals who quietly assume luck will substitute for proper planning. The Clapboard Score for "Thirteen, Meet Adam" is 59 out of 100, reflecting a campaign with a clear strategic premise and an accessible narrative voice, delivered through a focused film execution. The creative platform built on this work traces a deliberate lineage: Young & Laramore had previously developed insurance narrative campaigns for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, including the life-stage trilogy "Treehouse, Apartment, Just Married" in 2013, as documented by yandl.com, and the peril-focused television series "Knock on Wood," reported by Indianapolis Business Journal in June 2013. "Thirteen, Meet Adam" narrows that creative tradition to a single character and a single argument: when it comes to insurance coverage, luck should have nothing to do with it.
ARCHIVEIndiana Farm Bureau Insurance targets a consumer psychology that insurance marketers have long identified as one of their most persistent challenges. Many individuals in the United States underestimate the importance of proper insurance coverage because they operate under an implicit belief that serious misfortune is something that happens to other people. Adam, the campaign's protagonist, is the satirical embodiment of that assumption taken to its most extreme conclusion.
The strategic rationale is grounded in a universal human tendency toward optimism bias — the conviction, rarely examined, that personal risk is lower than statistical reality warrants. By personifying that bias as a single, almost mythologically lucky figure who skipped the awkwardness of age 13 entirely, Young & Laramore gives Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance a way to hold a mirror up to its audience without lecturing them. The implied message is both gentle and pointed: you are not Adam, so stop acting like you are.
The United States personal property-and-casualty insurance sector, which encompasses auto, homeowners, and related personal lines, is the specific competitive terrain this campaign addresses. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the American insurance market is one of the most developed and competitive in the world, with consumers exercising significant choice across carriers. In that environment, differentiation through emotional and narrative means carries particular strategic weight. Per Swiss Re, global non-life insurance grew 2.4% in real terms in 2016, a deceleration from the prior year's 3.0% growth, suggesting that simply competing on price or product breadth was an increasingly difficult path in the year the campaign ran. Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance's decision to compete on consumer understanding — positioning the brand as the agency that ensures customers genuinely know what they hold — reflects a mature reading of what a regional insurer can own in a crowded market.
"Thirteen, Meet Adam" deploys a character-led narrative structure that is relatively uncommon in personal lines insurance advertising, a category more frequently associated with scenario-based fear appeals or price-comparison mechanics.
On screen, the film introduces Adam as a figure whose luck is so extraordinary that he bypassed age 13 — with all of its uncomfortable, formative awkwardness — entirely. The narrative voice positions Adam as genuinely enviable, almost fable-like, before pivoting to the campaign's core argument: his exceptional luck makes him irrelevant as a role model for anyone watching. The audience is explicitly told they are not Adam, and that the proper response to that fact is to contact Farm Bureau Insurance and ensure their coverage is real, not fortunate. The two-asset film execution allows the campaign to sustain its character study across more than a single viewing context, reinforcing the "have what you need, and know what you have" brand line through repeated exposure to the same persona.
The creative team behind the campaign is documented in available production credits. Executive creative director Carolyn Hadlock led the creative effort. Chief strategy officer Tom Denari shaped the strategic platform underpinning Adam's character. Account director Brad Bobenmoyer and senior account manager Sara Walker managed the client relationship. The campaign was produced by Young & Laramore, the Indianapolis-based agency with a documented history of narrative-led work for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance across multiple years, as recorded by yandl.com. The creative approach in "Thirteen, Meet Adam" represents a deliberate refinement of that body of work, moving from broader peril-based storytelling toward a single, memorable character who carries the entire insurance argument on his improbably fortunate shoulders.
No verified third-party performance data for "Thirteen, Meet Adam" — including media spend, reach, recall scores, or conversion metrics — is publicly available from named sources at the time of this analysis. The campaign recorded 2,894 views and one like on the platform where it was submitted, with no public comments, figures that reflect archival engagement rather than campaign-scale audience measurement.
No verified award wins for "Thirteen, Meet Adam" are recorded in available sources. The campaign does not appear in documented award shortlists from named industry bodies for the 2016 cycle.
Assessed on structural grounds, the campaign's effectiveness rests on a creative mechanism that is genuinely difficult to execute: using an aspirational figure to generate productive self-awareness rather than aspiration itself. Adam is not someone the audience wants to be — he is too extreme, too fictional — but he is precisely relatable enough to surface the quiet assumption the campaign wants to dislodge. The brand line "have what you need, and know what you have" functions as both a rational promise and an emotional resolution, giving Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance a positioning that connects the affective experience of watching Adam's story to a concrete action: reviewing and confirming proper insurance coverage. In the United States personal lines market, where consumer inertia is a primary barrier to engagement, that structural logic is commercially sound. The Clapboard Score of 59 out of 100 reflects a campaign that executes its narrative premise competently, with room for greater memorability and measurable reach.
"Thirteen, Meet Adam" is a February 2016 film campaign for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, created by Young & Laramore in the United States. It features a fictional character named Adam whose extraordinary luck — including skipping age 13 entirely — illustrates why ordinary people cannot afford to rely on luck instead of proper insurance coverage.
Young & Laramore, an Indianapolis-based advertising agency, created the campaign. Executive creative director Carolyn Hadlock led the creative work, with chief strategy officer Tom Denari shaping the strategic platform, and account director Brad Bobenmoyer overseeing the client relationship alongside senior account manager Sara Walker.
The campaign argues that insurance coverage should never depend on luck. Adam is presented as an impossibly fortunate exception; the campaign reminds viewers they are not Adam and should ensure they genuinely "have what you need, and know what you have" through Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance rather than assuming misfortune will pass them by.
The campaign targeted United States consumers in the personal property-and-casualty insurance market, specifically individuals considering auto, homeowners, and related personal lines coverage in Indiana. It addressed a common consumer tendency to underestimate personal risk — the quiet assumption that serious misfortune happens to others, not to oneself.
No verified award wins for "Thirteen, Meet Adam" are recorded in publicly available sources from the 2016 industry award cycle. The campaign received a Clapboard Score of 59 out of 100, reflecting a competent narrative execution with a clear strategic premise and identifiable room for broader memorability and measurable audience reach.
The campaign continues a narrative tradition Young & Laramore built for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, following the 2013 life-stage trilogy "Treehouse, Apartment, Just Married" and the peril-focused "Knock on Wood" television series, as documented by yandl.com. "Thirteen, Meet Adam" refines that approach by centering the entire insurance argument on a single, character-driven premise.
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