Whatever Happened To The Original Jake From State Farm?
For the 2020 Super Bowl, State Farm Insurance rebooted one of its most successful TV commercials: "Jake from State Farm." The original spot shows a wife catching her husband on the phone in the middle of the night, talking to their insurance agent. The star of the original TV commercial was a real State Farm employee, per Medium. In the 2020 reboot commercial, they replaced the employee, so whatever happened to the original "Jake from State Farm?"
The Jake 2020 commercial has been a huge hit for the insurance company, with hottie actor Kevin Miles playing Jake. The reboot commercial went viral, spawning new situations for Jake. Miles has co-starred in commercials with Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Paul Rudd, and even Drake. Twitter went wild over the 2021 State Farm Super Bowl commercial featuring Drake as the stand-in for "Jake from State Farm."
So, why did the insurance company replace Jake? If you're worried about what happened to the original "Jake from State Farm," keep scrolling to find out more.
The original 'Jake from State Farm' is still around
Jake Stone, an actual State Farm Insurance agent, played "Jake from State Farm" in the 2011 commercial, per Medium. To nab the role, Stone, who was just 26 at the time, responded to a casting call for employees.
In the State Farm Insurance 2020 reboot commercial, the husband and wife bicker about the phone call, but there's a new Jake on the other end of the phone. Jake 2.0 asks his co-worker, "Hey, do they ever ask you what you're wearing?" Then, viewers see Stone, the original Jake, pop up and answer, "Uh, yeah." The genius move to include Stone shows the company didn't forget the original Jake.
In a 2014 interview with The Pantagraph, it was revealed that Stone had quit his part-time job as an agent two years prior "to become a seasonal employee for the town of Normal while keeping his bartending job." In the interview, the original Jake revealed that his life didn't change much after he starred in the popular commercial, revealing that aside from the occasional fan photo and request to say, "Uh, khakis," he's still "putting on his khakis, one leg at a time."
That being said, the commercial is still undoubtedly a cultural phenomenon.
The real reason the original Jake from State Farm was replaced
The original "Jake from State Farm" helped make the insurance company TV campaign into a cultural phenomenon, so why did the company replace Jake Stone? It turns out that the new Jake needed to be more of an actor and spokesperson for the company.
State Farm Assistant VP of Marketing Patti Morris talked to Muse about why the company switched to a new Jake. Morris told the outlet that Stone "did great at delivering his famous line, 'Uh ... khakis.' However, this expanded role is very demanding, and is best filled by a professional actor."
When the company re-upped the "Jake from State Farm" ad campaign in 2020, the idea was to have the new Jake take a more active role. Morris told Muse that in the new campaign, "Consumers will see Jake in culturally relevant moments, being his usual helpful self... tapping into things that are contextually relevant with our audiences."
Plus, since the original Jake is no longer an insurance company employee, it makes perfect sense that State Farm would replace him with an actor.
New Jake went from sleeping in his car to working with Drake
Kevin Miles, the new "Jake from State Farm," has a story that could only happen in Hollywood. According to Forbes, Miles went from sleeping in his car when he first moved to Los Angeles to become a star in commercials, working with Drake!
Miles won't have to sleep in his car anymore because now he is a celebrity. Variety reported that "Jake from State Farm" has more star power than some well-known celebrities. According to Marketing Arm research, via Variety, "more people are aware of Jake than they are of Katie Couric or Hilary Swank." Variety reported that the Celebrity DBI database shows the State Farm character has a high positivity rate, which means "more than 80% of people who are aware of him find him appealing — putting him on par with Leslie Jones, Tyler Perry, and David Schwimmer."
But Miles is taking his celebrity profile in stride. Before his role as "Jake," Miles had appeared in SWAT and Criminal Minds; and he did ads for Hyundai, Slim Jim, and Pepsi.
Getting into the "Jake from State Farm" character is not hard. Miles told Variety, "I think of the times that I have been there, either in hard times or in happy times, the feeling I get when I'm around my loved ones."