Creative Marketing Campaigns

Geico has had many creative ads, all from the Martin Agency. Steve Basset, the Creative Director for Geico at Martin, said it was important to deliver a message about “stability and reliability” that would stand out. Including the gecko in their ads was a way to distinguish it from insurance companies that used a traditional “gloom and doom” approach, and the funny gecko “puts a smile on your face.”

Later their creative team did one commercial where there is a stack of money staring at us with big eyes while the song “Somebody’s Watching Me” plays in the background. It was successful because people like a big stack of money, and they liked the song. People obviously got the message that they’d save a lot by switching to Geico. In a bad economy this was a brilliant strategy.

Another campaign called “rhetorical questions” had the “right amount of goofiness and clichés” presented by a stone- faced spokesman, says T.L. Stanley of Adfreak.com. Geico’s caveman ads are especially famous. They’re the ones that brought the agency so much acclaim. The commercial that used Warren Buffets name and connected him to Geico, showed a gecko in horn-rimmed glasses, giving a serious talk about saving money on car insurance, and it was as if Buffet was the “spokesman.” Halfway down the ad it had a text describing Geico as a “financially stable company that’s here for the long term” and “a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.” This gave people a sense of trust due to Buffet’s own financial success, and at the same time it offered the brand’s “familiar gecko in a businesslike vein.”

Advertising Campaigns

Geico has one of the most creative ad campaigns in history. The Martin Agency devised this plan because of a common mistake. When people pronounced Geico they said it as “gecko.” The Martin Agency decided to use that to their advantage. They doodled a gecko, liked it, and coupled it with the knowledge that animals create a strong connection between companies and customers, the idea created a revolutionary way to market an insurance company, rest is history! In this hub I will look deeper at the advertising and marketing of Geico, and the agency that made it happen.

Gieco's lighthearted approach to marketing works in that "consumers are hit with so many messages every day, and the comedic aspect is appealing to them," according to Liz Ball, the President of TFI Envisions, a studio that runs ad campaigns.