GEICO: From Bit Player to Behemoth through Good Advertising ounded in 1936, GEICO initially targeted a select By now, you know a lot about GEICO and its smooth- customer group of government employees and non- talking gecko. But at the start, the insurer faced a tough commissioned military officers with exceptional task-introducing a little-known brand with a funny name driving records. Unlike its competitors, GEICO had to a national audience. Like all good advertising, the GEICO no agents. Instead, the auto insurer marketed directly to campaign began with a simple but compelling theme, one that customers, keeping its costs low and passing on the savings highlights the convenience and savings advantages of GEICO's in the form of lower premiums. For nearly 60 years, GEICO's direct-to-customers system. To this day, every single one of the marketing relied almost entirely on direct mail and tele- hundreds of ads and other content pieces in the GEICO cam- phone advertising. paign has driven home the now-familiar pitch: "15 minutes In 1994, however, when GEICO decided to expand its could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance." customer base, it knew that it But what really set GEICO's must also expand its marketing. advertising apart was the inspired So it entered the world of mass Thanks in large part to an industry- way the company chose to bring media, a shift that would dramati- changing, big-budget advertising program its value proposition to life. At cally change the face of insurance featuring an enduring tagline and a the time, competitors were using advertising. GEICO started slowly, likeable but unlikely spokes-lizard, GEICO serious and sentimental pitches- spending a paltry $10 million to has muscled its way to the number-two "You're in good hands with launch its first national TV, radio, position in its ultra-competitive industry. Allstate" or "Like a good neigh- and print ads. Then, in 1996, bil- bor, State Farm is there." To make lionaire investor Warren Buffett its advertising stand out, GEICO bought the company and famously told the marketing group decided to deliver its punch line with humor. The creative ap- "money is no object" when it comes to growing the business, so proach worked, and sales began to climb. "speed things up." Did it ever. Over the next 10 years, GEICO's In trying to grow the brand, it become apparent that cus's ad spending jumped 50-fold, to more than $500 million a year. tomers had difficulty pronouncing the GEICO name (whichstands for Government Employees Insurance Company). Too often, GEICO became "gecko." Enter the charismatic green lizard. In 1999, GEICO ran a 15-second spot in which the now- famous, British-accented gecko calls a press conference and pleads: "I am a gecko, not to be confused with GEICO, which could save you hundreds on car insurance. So stop calling me." The ad was supposed to be a one-time "throwaway," but con- sumers quickly flooded the company with calls and letters beg- ging to see more of the gecko. The rest, as they say, is history. Although the gecko remains GEICO's iconic spokesman, one lizard could take the company only so far. So over the years, to keep its pitch fresh and entertaining, GEICO has GEICO supplemented the gecko ads with a continuous flow of clever, buzzworthy new executions telling the brand's value story. For more than 20 years, GEICO's advertising and charismatic Early on, when GEICO first went online, the campaign em- gecko have creatively and relentlessly driven home the brand's ployed a clutch of cultured cavemen, insulted by the com- value proposition: "15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more pany's advertising slogan "It's so easy to use GEICO.com, even on car insurance." All text and images are copy written with permission from GEICO. a caveman could do it." Later, in response to the question "Can switching to GEICO really save you 15 percent or more on car insurance?," the "Rhetorical Questions" campaign responded, it-it's truly unskippable). The "Unskippable" campaign won "Is Ed Too Tall' Jones too tall?," "Was Abe Lincoln honest?," the Film Grand Prix award at the Cannes international ad fes- and "Did the little piggy cry 'wee wee wee' all the way home?" tival and received Advertising Age's first-ever Campaign of the That last ad introduced the world to Maxwell, the talking pig Year award. who went on to star in his own GEICO campaign, emphasize "No matter how many GEICO ads you've seen over the ing GEICO's growing digital, social, and mobile advances. years-and it's a bunch-they never seem to grow stale," The brand's later "Happier than..." campaign introduced yet observes one expert. The company's chief marketing officer another talking animal, the popular Caleb the Camel, who pro- explains, "We're trying to stay ever-present in the consumer's claimed that GEICO customers are "Happier than a camel on mind but not bore them and have them just tune out yet hump day." another GEICO ad." However, no matter how varied, each In its more recent "It's what you do..." installment of the mini-campaign has a distinctly GEICO flavor, and every single campaign, GEICO found yet another way to underline its value ad closes strongly with the crucial "15 minutes could save you proposition in an entertaining and memorable way. In one ad, 15 percent" tagline. an immature Peter Pan annoyingly disrupts a staid convention GEICO continues to invest heavily in advertising and con- luncheon because when you're Peter Pan, "you stay young for- tent marketing, outspending every other insurance company in ever. It's what you do." Another ad featured a mom who calls measured media by a nearly two-to-one margin. Its annual ad- her son while he's in the midst of a dramatic James Bond-style vertising budget, now more than $1.1 billion, makes GEICO the exploit to vent about his dad's refusal to call exterminators to third-most-advertised U.S. megabrand. However, the brand's handle a backyard squirrel problem because if you're a mom, creative and relentless advertising messaging plus its heavy "you always call at the worst possible time. It's what you do." investment have paid big dividends. The once little-known Each ad in the series concluded: "If you want to save money on GEICO brand now enjoys well over 90 percent awareness car insurance, you switch to GEICO. It's what you do." among insurance shoppers. And after years of double-digit GEICO's award-winning "Unskippable" campaign offered market share gains, GEICO now occupies second place in the hilarious online video ads that viewers simply couldn't skip. ultra-competitive U.S. car-insurance market. Each video featured a seemingly boring, everyday scene, such Moreover, beyond spurring GEICO's spectacular growth, as a family eating a spaghetti dinner. The ads opened with an the brand's advertising has changed the way the entire in- unabashedly huge GEICO logo in the middle of the screen surance industry markets its products. In what was once a and the line, "You can't skip this ad because it's already over. yawn-provoking category, competitors ranging from Allstate Fifteen minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car (with "Mayhem") to Progressive (with "Flo") are now injecting insurance." But that's when the fun kicked in. For example, humor and interest in their own advertising campaigns. "This in the family dinner video, the family freezes while their dog strategy is absolutely working for GEICO," asserts one analyst. leaps onto the table, methodically and comically scarfing up It's "a testament to how GEICO has used advertising to evolve everyone's spaghetti (you have to see the video to appreciate from a bit player to a behemoth," says another. Windows akti